Announcement date
8 February 2023
Link to announcement
Albanese Government Delivers Legislation To Help Close The Gender Pay Gap | Ministers Media Centre (pmc.gov.au)
Problem being addressed
The Review of the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (released March 2022) concluded that the gender pay gap in Australia was not closing at a fast enough rate. Work to progress women’s economic equality in Australia has been fragmented, leading to slow progress on closing the gender pay gap, which according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency's latest data, has stalled at 22.8 per cent in 2021 and 2022. Estimates indicate, at the current rate of progress, it would take approximately 26 years to close the full-time gender pay gap.
Proposal
To amend the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 to improve gender equality in employment and in the workplace by boosting pay gap transparency and encouraging action to close gender pay gaps within organisations.
Assessed Impact Analysis outcome
Good practice
Assessment comments
The analysis would have benefited from deeper exploration of the costs and potential short-term impacts to individuals and businesses not directly targeted by the policy, such as to males, when the intended policy outcome of accelerated wages equalisation begins to occur.
Regulatory burden
The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet estimates that the preferred option will result in a reduction in annual regulatory costs of $0.12 million on average per year, over 10 years.