Senate debates

Thursday, 13 February 2020

Questions without Notice

Gender Equality

2:54 pm

Photo of Marise PayneMarise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much to Senator Askew for that question. She is a fine female senator from Tasmania.

I also want to thank my ministerial colleagues here and in the other place for their commitment to gender diversity when making Australian government board appointments. As of 30 June last year—and the figures have just been released—Australian women held 47.9 per cent of Australian government board positions, which is an all-time high. This is the highest percentage of women on government boards since public reporting began more than a decade ago, and I think it's an achievement that we can all welcome. It represents a 7.4-percentage-point increase since the gender diversity target of 50 per cent was set in 2016. Positively, again, women accounted for 54 per cent of new appointments to government boards, which is an increase of 4.7 percentage points in the six months to 30 June 2019.

We know that gender diversity on boards and in other leadership positions contributes to more effective and innovative decision-making and outcomes. The government is strongly committed, and I am personally committed, to increasing gender diversity on Australian government boards and to reaching our 50 per cent target. Boards should reflect the full diversity of Australia, and we should use the rich resource of the talent of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, culturally and linguistically diverse women, LGBTI women and women with disability—women living all over the country.

Our progress towards gender balance on government boards is improving leadership choices for Australian women every day. As a government, we're committed to targeting key areas that promote greater choice for women, as we demonstrated in our Women's Economic Security Statement last year, including by increasing women's workforce participation, supporting economic independence and improving earning potential.

Comments

No comments