Hansard Daily: Legislative Council - Tuesday, November 16 2021

Gender Pay Gap

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:11): I seek leave to provide an explanation before asking the Minister for Human Services a question about the gender pay gap.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: Under the former Labor government the gender pay gap was 9.8 per cent in 2018. Only three years in and the Marshall Liberal government has managed to reduce this number to 7 per cent as of May 2021. We are leading the nation with the lowest pay gap Australia-wide. Can the minister provide an update to the council on how the Marshall Liberal government has affirmed its commitment to make South Australia a leading state for women?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:12): I thank the honourable member for her question and for her interest in this important area. Indeed, we have launched our Women's Leadership and Economic Security Strategy, which is a key pillar and was an election commitment from 2018 and is something that we were certainly very keen on doing. The commitments that we have made to women and families through our domestic and family violence reforms are obviously something that I have spoken about at length in this chamber, and are incredibly important.

We know that if women have economic freedom it means they have choices so, again, economic security is a key pillar for assisting women who may find themselves in that situation to enable them to make choices to leave and get out of toxic relationships. Apart from anybody who may well be in that particular situation, we believe that our economic strategy is going to continue to drive the employment of women in non-traditional areas. Indeed, this is something that my colleague Minister Pisoni is very keen on, and ensuring that we are addressing it particularly through apprenticeships and traineeships and encouraging women to enter non-traditional areas.

There are fantastic opportunities for women. I note in the residential construction area the Housing Industry Association has something like 40 vacancies that they are very keen to fill. We have also refreshed our Premier's Council for Women, which includes a number of women who have very strong careers in entrepreneurship in those areas, such as Kirsty Mundy, who works for Microsoft Industry Solutions in the Asian region; Fiona Dorman, who has a scientific background and has invested in a very successful gin distillery; and Karen Briggs, who is from KLB Creative.

We are very proud of the fact that we have the lowest pay gap in Australia. It is something in the order of 14 per cent nationally and 7 per cent in South Australia. Therefore, it's very disappointing that in the ranks of the Leader of the Opposition's office there is a pay gap of almost 35 per cent. We also know that in the House of Assembly women are often denied the opportunity to ask questions in favour of their male colleagues. We on this side proudly provide—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —all of those opportunities for women. In the Premier's office, the pay gap is just 4 per cent, so lower than the state average. We are very proud of our record. We walk the walk and don't just talk the talk, which is Labor and their tokenism—