This submission is being made by The National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW).
Most of the provisions included in the Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023 (the Bill) were recommended in the submissions made by NFAW and other women’s organisations to the 2021 Review of the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (the Review).
While the Government has committed itself to implementing all the recommendations of that review (Explanatory Memorandum, p. 2), the Review itself is a cautious document, many of whose recommendations have been hedged round with requirements for further research and/or consultation prior to any actual implementation. Of the 10 recommendations made in the Review, Recommendations 1, 3.1, 6, 7.21 , 7.3, and 8 fall into this category.
According to the Explanatory Memorandum, the measures contained in the Bill actually implement, in part or in full, Recommendations 2, 3, 5, and 9 of the Review (p. 4). Of these, only Recommendations 2 (on the publication of gender pay gap percentages) and 5 (on aligning the definitions of sexual harassment in the Act and in the Instrument), appear to be fully implemented.
NFAW welcomes most of the provisions in the Bill. Our concerns relate to the provision implementing Recommendation 3 of the review and to the related measures to operationalise that provision outlined in the Impact Statement attached to the Explanatory Memorandum.