A policy requiring big businesses to meet gender-based targets or risk missing out on lucrative Commonwealth contracts won’t start until next year despite Labor commitments to urgently close the pay gap.
Minister for Women Katy Gallagher in March announced plans to harness the Commonwealth’s $70 billion-a-year purchasing power as a new tool to close the yawning gender pay gap.
Under a proposal included in Labor’s Working for Women strategy, businesses with 500 or more staff would need to commit to — and meet — workplace gender equality targets to win Government work.
No timeline for implementation was detailed at the time and few details have been publicly released in the months since, raising questions about Labor’s commitment to delivering the policy.
In a statement to The Sunday Times, a spokeswoman for Senator Gallagher dispelled those doubts and confirmed the Federal Government was still pursuing the policy.
The spokeswoman said laws to implement the new regime were being developed with the “aim” of introducing them to Federal Parliament early next year.
“The legislation will determine when the changes come into effect, as well as the lead time for employers to prepare,” the spokeswoman said.
“There will be further consultations on the targets as part of the legislative process.”
The timeline to introduce the new requirements would be complicated if Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called an early election — an option he continues to leave open.
The policy would expand on existing Commonwealth procurement principles that require some businesses with 100 or more staff to comply with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency Act to be eligible to win certain Government work.
Since April last year, businesses with 500 or more staff have also been required to set strategies to meet six gender-equity indicators outlined in the Act.
The Opposition will await further detail on the new policy before finalising its position.
But shadow minister for women Sussan Ley and shadow finance minister Jane Hume have criticised the lack of progress, questioning if Senator Gallagher’s announcement just days out from International Women’s Day was more about a media release than “genuine reform”.
“Minister Gallagher needs to give certainty to the Commonwealth’s contractors on what she is going to expect of them or she should come clean that this policy was all about posturing rather than delivering change,” Senator Hume said.
The Working for Women strategy was unveiled a week after gender pay gap data for almost 5000 of the nation’s biggest companies was revealed for the first time.
More than six in 10 employers had pay gaps in favour of men of more than 5 per cent, according to figures from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.
New Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, published this week, showed the national gender pay gap had fallen to 11.5 per cent — the lowest on record.
Announcing the new strategy at the National Press Club on March 7, Senator Gallagher was confident the procurement policy would act as a “carrot” to encourage businesses to close the gap.
“My experience is that companies work with us,” she said.
“They want government work. This puts more responsibilities on them but I don’t think it’s one that they will shrug or walk away from.”