Gender Pay Gap

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (14:48): Mr President, my question is to the minister—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order, the Hon. Ms Bourke! The Hon. Dr Centofanti will start again.

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI: My question is to the Minister for Human Services regarding women. Can the minister please update the council on South Australia's gender pay gap.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:49): I thank the honourable member for her question and for her interest in this area. Indeed, we were very pleased that South Australia has the lowest gender pay gap in the nation. It has come down from over 9 per cent when we took office, reduced to 8.2 per cent last year and is now, pleasingly, down to 7 per cent. This is against a backdrop of the national pay gap being over 14 per cent.

We obviously know that closing the gender pay gap is important for the future prosperity and the current prosperity, indeed, of all South Australian women. I think it speaks to the opportunities that are in South Australia in terms of employment for women, which is something that we are keen to progress through our strategy. I think it speaks to the very solid economic recovery that South Australia has experienced. Indeed, I note that the unemployment rate for women in South Australia is down to some 4.4 per cent. It is actually lower than the male unemployment rate, having come down from 9 per cent in June last year.

So we certainly know there are fantastic opportunities for women. We have a Premier's Council for Women which is being refreshed, which has a very specific focus on economic empowerment for women, including entrepreneurship. It was great to see one of the members of that group, Kelly Baker-Jamieson, featured in the paper this week. She, herself, is a small business startup who began her business, Edible Blooms, in 2005, and she is now employing more than 100 staff across Australia and has been a Telstra businesswoman of the year.

We will continue to deliver economic opportunities for women to progress the status of women in South Australia. I do note that this has been a question that has been raised in estimates, particularly during the height of the pandemic, by the member for Reynell. I do not necessarily expect that I will receive a bouquet of flowers, but she may want to consider sending the member for Unley a bouquet of flowers, given he has the lead role for employment in South Australia and is always pushing the barrow for opportunities for women, particularly in the apprenticeship and traineeship area, which is one of the areas where we are looking to expand opportunities for women into the future.