Labor will use International Women’s Day to pledge greater transparency about the gender pay gap in Australia, promising legislation requiring companies to report their data publicly.
Labor’s new policy commitment comes as the Morrison government continues to battle an intense public furore generated by the rape allegation levelled by former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins, and a separate, categorically denied, allegation of sexual assault against the attorney general Christian Porter.
The ABC has now confirmed it will air another program titled Bursting the Canberra Bubble on Monday night – the second program in a series – which will keep the rolling controversy firmly in the public spotlight.
Labor on Monday will unveil new gender pay initiatives. The Labor leader Anthony Albanese will say that if the opposition wins the next federal election, Labor will set up a searchable gender pay equity portal that would publish companies’ headline gender pay gap, and managerial and non-managerial pay gaps.
Companies currently report gender pay data to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), but the results from individual companies are not made public. Albanese said Labor, if elected, would legislate to ensure public reporting, while also prohibiting pay secrecy clauses that prevent some employees from disclosing their remuneration.
Labor is also promising to strengthen the capacity of the Fair Work Commission to order pay increases for workers in low-paid, female-dominated industries, and action to address the gender pay gap in the Australian Public Service.
After abandoning an initial proposal to examine workplace issues in-house, the Morrison government now has drafted Australia’s sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins to lead a review of workplace culture in parliament in response to the Higgins furore.
Jenkins told the ABC on Sunday she believed Australia was now “at a turning point” in the public conversation about sexual harassment and assault. “In my time working in this area and particularly looking in workplaces over 30 years, I’ve never seen any moment like this,” she said.
While the sex discrimination commissioner will spearhead the workplace culture probe sparked by Higgins’ allegation that she was raped by a colleague in the ministerial wing of Parliament House in March 2019, Four Corners will on Monday night broadcast calls for an independent inquiry into the contested rape allegation against Christian Porter. Friends of the now deceased woman who accused Porter of raping her in 1988 have told the program such an inquiry would stop what has been labelled a “trial by media”.
Porter – who has taken a period of mental health leave – categorically denies the rape allegation. The defence minister, Linda Reynolds, who was Higgins’ employer at the time the sexual assault is alleged to have occurred in her office, has also extended her period of medical leave to deal with a heart condition, meaning she will not be in parliament to front Senate estimates hearings in late March.
The government has thus far resisted calls for an independent investigation into the claims made against the attorney general, declaring the rule of law must be respected.
But Labor, the Greens and crossbenchers support an arms-length probe, and legal and business experts insist there is no “rule of law” issue with Porter facing an independent inquiry into an allegation of sexual assault.
Earlier this week, New South Wales police ended an investigation into the allegations, saying there was “insufficient admissible evidence”. The complainant died in 2020 and the South Australian coroner has held open the possibility of a coronial inquiry.
The new Labor policy on gender pay gap reporting would give companies the option of providing a statement explaining their pay gap and their actions to address it.
The proposal would also phase in reporting. Very large companies with more than 1,000 employees would be required to report within two years, and other companies within four years.
Last year, the director of the WGEA warned that Australian employers were on autopilot when it comes to advancing pay equity. Libby Lyons pointed to a “troubling” decline in the number of employers taking remedial action to address gender pay gaps.
In a statement, Albanese said: “Research shows Australian women working for companies that report to the WGEA, earn, on average, $25,534 less than men every year and face a 20% gap in total wages.
“The situation is only getting worse.”