Australia Launches Gender Equality & Inclusion Centre

Thanks very much Laura and Jessie for that warm introduction. I really do appreciate it.

I'd also like to pay respects to the Traditional Owners of the land that we're meeting on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and also acknowledge the very lovely and generous Welcome to Country that was performed earlier.

I would also acknowledge any other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here today, who are leaders in their communities, holders of knowledge and advocates for equality.

I acknowledge the Chancellor, David Thodey; Dean, Professor Leisa Sargent; Centre Director, Professor Rae Cooper; Deputy Director, Professor Elizabeth Hill; and all of the distinguished guests here this evening, thank you so much for coming and listening to my address.

I also acknowledge my ministerial colleagues, Senator Murray Watt, who's the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations; Senator Jenny McAllister, Minister for Cities and Minister for Emergency Management; and Assistant Minister Tim Ayres, who's the Assistant Minister for Trade, Manufacturing and Assistant Minister for Future Made In Australia. All great people, great colleagues and great friends. So, thank you for being here.

To Rae and Elizabeth in particular - congratulations to both of you as the brains, energy and drive behind this new centre and for the massive contribution you have already made, and continue to make, as experts in your respective fields of research in work, care, gender inequality and as advocates for change.

Most particularly in relation to the work I have been doing as Minister for Women and Minister for Finance, Rae, your contribution on the Women's Economic Equality Taskforce helped shape our agenda for women. And Liz, your research on Paid Parental Leave helped us build a policy we're really proud of.

So, not only for your research contributions already, but also, importantly - and other speakers have already touched on this - how you've translated that research into transformative change and made a real difference in women's lives.

It's an honour to be here this evening and play a small role at the opening of the new Australian Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusion at Work here at the University of Sydney. It's an honour to be asked to deliver the inaugural Gender Equality at Work Lecture and I acknowledge and thank all of the organisers of this evening's event.

It's so exciting to think about what important research this Centre will undertake and how the Centre's research pillars align with the priority that our government, the Albanese Government, has placed upon driving gender equality across our government - in the future of work; about how gender segregated our labour market continues to be; about the role and value of care, both paid and unpaid; and how we deal with the crisis of violence against women and children in this country.

The Prime Minister often speaks about how he leads an orderly government where evidence-based policymaking connects with proper processes around decision making. As Ministers, we understand deeply about the power of research and evidence to better understand our society and our economy and how to use that information to help tackle the inequality that exists.

Good research leads to better decisionmaking, better policy outcomes and better policy. So, no doubt as we continue the work before our government, we will be relying heavily on the Centre to help inform us with our work.

Now, I know I don't need to convince anyone here tonight on the benefits of gender equality. We know it's good for women, good for men, good for children, good for the economy, good for the community. No one seriously questions the opportunities or the benefits that flow from a gender equal Australia or even a more gender equal Australia. We all get it.

But unfortunately for those of us that have been knocking around the women's policy space for some time, we haven't been seeing the change at the speed or commitment necessary that will bring about that outcome.

With the election of the Labor Government in May 2022 - the first majority-women federal government in history - gender equality and using policy and the levers available to us to drive more gender equal outcomes has been central to everything we are doing as a government.

The Prime Minister asked me to be Minister for Women as well as Minister for Finance - for the first time, putting women's policy smack bang in the centre of government. Not an afterthought, not something that is considered after the big decisions are taken, but right there where it needs to be. At every decision, across every portfolio.

And whilst tonight I will touch on what this means in practice, the short version of my remarks really can be told in this way: we see the opportunity to improve gender equality across every part of government. We see it as a core responsibility of each and every minister to be looking at what they can do in their own patch.

Gender impacts are understood before decisions are taken - whether it be in defence, in our international work, in our work with states and territories, in health, in housing, in early education and care, in aged care, in the NDIS, importantly, in industrial relations and employment policy - and I'm looking forward to working with my friend and colleague Murray Watt in his new role.

In social services, in education policy, skills and training, procurement policy, legislative changes in pay and closing the gender pay gap. These all matter. In women's safety - for the first time ever National Cabinet had a meeting solely focused on violence against women and what to do about it earlier this year, with another meeting in September.

Basically, in short, if there is a lever available, we are going to be pulling on it.

And a key part of my role is travelling the country and listening and talking with women about what matters to them, hearing what is and isn't working for them, and asking them what we, as a government, can do better.

Earlier today I met with a bunch of women working in one of our newer industries - as influencers - and although on the surface it all looks glamorous and fun, I heard the same stories of struggling, drowning, feeling the brunt of difficult economic times and finding it hard, if not impossible, to juggle work and care responsibilities. A new industry, but with many of the same old problems, it seems, when it comes to women and work.

So, along with these discussions, I've also marshalled the advice of policy experts on what works and why - and I know many in this room have been a part of those discussions.

The sum of all these consultations and insights is our National Strategy for Gender Equality, which I launched in March. We called the Strategy Working for Women - and that was deliberate. The women we consulted wanted the different aspects of their lives to work for them, not against them. They want government systems to work for them, not against them, too.

Another reason the Strategy is called Working for Women is because it raises important questions about what we as a society consider work to be. For example, what or whose work counts as something to be valued? Who does what work, and why? How are those choices controlled or constrained?

We took a bit of a risk using the word "work" in the title of our strategy. We'd heard from women that they don't want to be told to work more - or to work harder. And we didn't want to give the impression that paid work is the only answer to inequality, which, of course, it's not. But what we did want to do was make a point about systems and systemic change - and about making systems work well for women.

This isn't an easy task. But when you're a part of a government that cares genuinely about equality, you have to have a go.

So, Working for Women is the strategic framework. The reforms that we have been working on since day one align with it, and tonight gives me the opportunity to talk a little more about some of the key areas of focus for us in particular - how we are approaching the tasks of valuing the work women do.

Closing the gender pay gap.

Addressing industry gender segregation.

Getting our workplace relations settings right.

And changing the way we value unpaid care.

So, one of our priorities coming into government was to look at how we could better value the work women do. That's why, in the two-and-a-bit years since our election, we've supported the Fair Work Commission on three separate decisions to raise the minimum wage. This has meant that the pay of award wage earners - more than half of whom are women - has increased by more than $7,000 a year.

We've also supported and funded a much-deserved pay rise of 15 per cent for aged care workers, keeping in mind that a huge majority - 86 per cent - of residential aged care workers are women. And, in the recent Budget, we committed to provide funding for a future wage increase for those who work in early childhood education and care, within which an even larger proportion of workers - 92 per cent - are women.

Another part of the pay equation is, of course, the gender pay gap. And as you'd be aware, Labor's Closing the Gender Pay Gap Bill came into effect earlier this year, meaning that, for the first time, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, or WGEA, was legislatively required publish the gender pay gaps of large Australian companies.

I've got to say, I never thought I'd be standing up and giving an entire press conference on the gender pay gap. But it happened after we published that information. For more than a week or so, it was a watercooler conversation around this country. And I know from my own connections, family, friends and others, that women all around the country logged on to have a look at what was going on in their workplace. And most of them who thought something was going on, found out that it was.

Now, I received quite a few calls that week from heads of companies who felt that the data didn't reflect their experience or what they had thought, and I can't tell you - there were at least 3 or 4 that rang and said, "I know it looks bad, but it's really because we don't have enough women working in our business."

And I was able to say to all of them: "Yeah, that's the point. It's not an excuse."

So, I think this has been a really important step forward, along with those other measures which are closing the gender pay gap as we increase pay and support that we're providing to those low-paid, highly feminised industries.

We're also doing it in the Commonwealth public sector. I was amazed, coming into government, that whilst we required private companies to report against their gender pay gap and a whole lot of other data, we didn't require the Commonwealth to do so. The Commonwealth is now reporting that information and WGEA are publishing it.

And I think, again, it focuses the mind and effort on continuing to reduce the gender pay gap over the months and years ahead.

Another area we're looking at, and is an obvious contributor to the gender pay gap, is gender segregation. So, lifting wages in feminised industries is a part of the solution. But another is helping other segregated industries - like trades and STEM - to diversify. And, again, the work that the Fair Work Commission has done in this area recently is really useful, I think. Looking at just how occupations are segregated in this country.

So, we're doing a lot of work through Murray's department but also through some of the work that Ed Husic is doing through the Diversity in STEM review, and the work that Brendan O'Connor and now Minister Giles is doing through the Australian Skills Guarantee. So, making sure that where we're funding big construction projects, that we are expecting that women are going to be participating in those projects. And through the National Skills Agreement, making sure and including gender equality as one of those priorities that we have with the State and Territory Governments.

Another area which I think has been a bit of a sleeper in relation to some of the structural reforms that we are pursuing for gender equality, is the work that we've been doing around industrial relations and workplace relations. So, we knew from Opposition that the industrial relations system wasn't working for women. So, one of the first pieces of legislation we got through the parliament were amendments, or legislation, for our Secure Jobs Better Pay laws.

Particularly looking at strengthening enterprise bargaining, and we're already seeing the results there. In the first quarter of 2024, the Fair Work Commission approved 1,022 enterprise agreements, which was well up from the previous year. So, over 2 million workers are now covered by enterprise agreements above award conditions.

We've closed loopholes that undercut wages, conditions and safety for Australian workers - which has benefitted women workers who are disproportionately represented in lower-paid, less secure roles.

Looking ahead, we're now asking the Fair Work Commission to consider gender equality in all of their work, and to focus specifically on the valuing of care. The work that the Fair Work Commission is doing in understand occupational segregation and gender undervaluation is critically important, as is the priority award review that is now underway and will feed in and track alongside the Annual Wage review next year. This really will be a very significant finding when that work is completed and I look forward to that next year.

Another structural change we've made is with the expansion of Paid Parental Leave, which has been touched on today. Adding six weeks of government-funded PPL to bump up the total entitlement to six months in two years' time when that extension is fully realised. We've also built in reserved leave, so there is an expectation that both parents are supported - and expected - to care for their children.

And - after a long campaign from the labour movement, from unions, the women's sector, researchers, parents and soon-to-be parents, and including my good friend Jenny McAllister who did a big, really important senate inquiry into this when she was first elected to the Senate - to pay super on top of PPL from July next year when those legislative changes kick in.

These are really important changes and not only for the fact that people will be paid super, but the message it sends about the fact that when you take time out to care for others, you should not be financially penalised for doing that important work. So I think again, from a government that's trying to show leadership in this area, it was important that we cross that off our to-do list. These changes will increase choice and financial security. They send that strong signal that taking time out of paid work to care for children is a normal part of working life.

And they get to the heart of the work still ahead: to do more as a country to interrogate who cares for whom and why, and what or whose work counts as something to be valued. These are some of the ways that I'm thinking about gender equality at work. But it's by no means all of them.

Our strategy sets out a to-do list of sorts - one to achieve our vision for a gender equal Australia. And so with each Budget, we're making new investments and crossing items off the list.

Some of our biggest investments have been those that have been on that list. Investments in women's safety, paid domestic violence leave, the expansion of paid parental leave, the single parenting payment extension to lift women out of poverty when they're caring for children, the aged care workers' wages, the important work that Ged Kearney is doing in women's health and there'll be more on that as she finishes that work. Proper indexation for community services - again, a highly feminised workforce that had been neglected for way too long. And targeting our housing programs to particularly women, women escaping violence and older women in this country.

So, everywhere across our agenda, we're looking at ways to drive home a better deal for women. Whether it is making sure women can take up those good jobs of the future and the clean energy economy - and that's the work that Tim Ayres is going to solve for all of us, he's got that in hand, ensuring that women will benefit from a Future Made In Australia, not retrofitting it down the track when we're behind.

Or working with unions and employers to make women safe at work, and free from discrimination and harassment.

Because for us, placing women at the centre of our economic plan is not just a theoretical endeavour.

We understand that when a society and an economy work for women, they work for us all.

This work is being done right across the Government - not just by me, but every minister, every day. And last week the PM appointed Kate Thwaites MP as the Assistant Minister for Women, whom I'm going to work really closely with - and I'm sure all of you will - to continue to progress our focus on gender equality.

Now, I know there is a lot more to do - that it seems that our work is never finished. But as I think of all the little girls born today across the world, I remind myself of the importance of our work - of this Centre's work. So that when those little girls head into school and beyond, they are supported and encouraged to be everything they can be without fear of discrimination or barriers to impede their march forward.

And I also know that all of us have a job to do, a role to play and that we are guided and inspired by those that came before us. The women who kept showing up, raising their voice, not taking no for an answer.

So as we recognise the 40th anniversary of the Sex Discrimination Act this week and the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Office for Women, these are important dates to remember. Just as tonight is an important date to remember in the future. Not only for all that has been achieved, but also, importantly, to remind us of the promise for the future. And that is an Australia that is a better, safer, fairer and more equal place for all women and girls.

Thank you.