Lisa Darmanin (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Women, Senator Gallagher. Since coming to government in May 2022, the Albanese Labor government has made driving gender equality a key national priority. Supported by investments in the care economy, in Medicare, in equal pay and in skills and training, our agenda is ensuring that women are able to access work and job opportunities of their choice. Why is the government investing in skills and jobs for women?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Darmanin for the question. It is an important one and one that the government has focused on since day one. When we came to government in May 2022, we set about placing women's economic equality right at the front of our economic policy thinking, as a priority across the government. We have put in place a number of measures to make sure that we are driving equality across the economy and across the community. They include, when we look at wages, skills and job opportunities, measures like our tax cuts, which have delivered tax cuts for every woman taxpayer, with 90 per cent of women better off under the reshaped tax cuts that Labor did in the last term. We have, of course, seen a record-low gender pay gap: 11.9 per cent of—

Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You put a tax bracket in, remember that 37c?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Don't you like women getting a better share of the tax cuts there, Senator Bragg? Don't you like the gender pay gap lowering to the lowest on record, with women earning $217.40 more per week on average than they did when we came to government. There are 600,000 new jobs for women and record-high labour participation. Why? Because we are making investments in early childhood education and care and in the care economy so more women can have more choices and more opportunities. If they choose to work an extra day, then that opportunity is available to them.

We've seen investments in skills, like free TAFE and the establishment of the Commonwealth prac payment for teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work. That will, of course, support women who are undertaking those courses. And, of course, we cut the HECS debt. This morning the Senate passed that very important reform. We've reformed indexation. Women are 60 per cent of HECS debt holders, and the reforms passed by this parliament will help them enormously.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Darmanin, first supplementary?

Lisa Darmanin (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We know the Australian labour market is highly gender segregated. Why is it so important to challenge this segregation in the interests of the Australian economy?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Darmanin for the question. We do have one of the highest gender segregated labour markets of the OECD. To us on this side of the chamber that's not good enough. We want to make sure that every girl and every boy in Australia gets to do what they want to do, that there are no barriers to them doing training and work experience for the job that they've always dreamed of doing, and at the moment that's not the case.

We have a highly segregated labour market, and we want to change that. We want more women going into the traditionally male jobs and we want more men going into the jobs that have been traditionally held by women. Now, as we're dealing with some of those care economic wage issues, we are seeing more men go into aged care for the first time, and that is welcome. We on this side of the chamber will always pursue equality. We don't want to see a labour market where anyone is held back with particularly women denied those opportunities.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Darmanin, second supplementary?

Lisa Darmanin (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Creating opportunity for women is in our national interest. It is not just a measure of fairness; it's a driver of our success as a nation. How is the Albanese Labor government continuing to work to support the aspirations of women around Australia?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Darmanin, for the question. You put it more eloquently than I did in my previous answer.

I can tell you what we will not be doing. We will not be subscribing to the views of those opposite. This week we had the member for Longman, Mr Young, say:

Men tend to be more drawn to vocations that involve maths and physical exertion like construction and trades … Vocations like hairdressing, nursing, social work and the like will always be more female dominated.

That is a quote from this week from a 2025 Liberal member. We do not subscribe to that view. We also don't subscribe to views such as those of Senator Antic, who has said:

I think a little more patriarchy will help us out, not hurt us at all.

Or:

… every angry gender studies professor who thinks that they're going to crush the patriarchy has got some news coming.

These are not views that are held over on this side of the chamber. We want to see equality for women and for men. We want opportunities for all. (Time expired)