Gender Equality Bill

The Hon. C. BONAROS (15:35): On 3 April this year, I asked the Minister for Women for an update on the Gender Equality Bill. There was an about 125-word response provided just yesterday in this place, and not one of those 125 words referred to a gender equality bill.

In September of this year, this council passed a motion calling on the Malinauskas government to introduce a gender equality bill. The government's silence spoke volumes. Not one member in this chamber spoke on the motion, despite previous commitments and undertakings to introduce a bill on gender equality. We have heard crickets from the government and the Minister for Women on this issue, so it is little wonder that SA Unions has today launched a public petition campaign calling on Minister Hildyard to champion a gender equality bill immediately.

The SA Unions campaign quotes damning statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and other sources: every week SA women are paid $167 less than men; men are still paid more than women in 98 per cent of occupations; only one in five Australians are employed in gender-balanced occupations; and women are still retiring with 25 per cent less super than men.

As SA Unions notes, the government has repeatedly promised to introduce a bill, highlighting it as a priority in key documents like the state budget and the Women's Equality Blueprint—yet we have had not one mention of gender equality when asked about the progress of the promised legislation.

The South Australian Gender Pay Gap Taskforce established by the state government in 2022 also urged for this bill. It has been introduced by me twice in this place. When this government was in opposition, they supported that call: when they came into government, they opposed that, promising to bring in a bill of their own. We still have nothing, deafening silence.

The Gender Pay Gap Taskforce found that the gender pay gap not only affects women on an individual level, it reinforces gender equality through ongoing discrimination faced by women and the unequal distribution of power, resources and opportunities between men and women. The task force says research shows that reducing the gender pay gap would result in an increase in workforce participation and productivity and add a massive $128 billion to Australia's economy.

Only this month, The Advertiser reported that a major pay gap exists even in the female-dominated profession of teaching, with males earning on average $10,000 more than females, and male primary school teachers earning on average $13,000 more than women. The stats just get worse and worse, with another new report finding women in Australia are earning about $1.5 million less than men over their lifetime. That report, 'Ages and Wages', released by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, based its findings on information from more than 7,400 employers in 2024 representing more than 5.1 million employees across 19 industries. The pay gap between genders continues expanding over the years until it hits a peak at the age of 55 to 59, when men are earning almost $53,000 more than women.

We make up over half the population. A Jobs and Skills Australia study published last August found that over 100 occupations have gender pay gaps greater than 25 per cent, and that in nearly 30 occupations men earn 35 per cent extra. It says that the impact of inequality is even more evident for First Nations women, who face a 10-year gender pay gap of 38.1 per cent, reflecting compounding barriers and discrimination in the world of work, education and training.

Closing the gender pay gap is an important step for South Australia; we all know that. It is time, as SA Unions has said today. It is absolutely time that this government steps up and fulfils its commitments to the South Australian public and its commitments to this chamber, not once but twice: throughout debates and throughout their policy commitments.