Page 4470 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 19 November 1991
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concern at all levels of human endeavour. Such important initiatives are, of course, bipartisan. I note the work of the former Attorney-General, Mr Collaery, and wish to say that I agree with the comments made that this legislation was worked on very intensely during the time of the Alliance Government.
Ms Follett's Bill casts a wide net and covers many areas. One area of particular interest to me is the provision making it unlawful to discriminate against a person on the grounds of being a parent or having responsibility as a carer. Many of us seek to balance the dual roles of parent and worker, with varying degrees of success. This is a major issue for Australia, not just on the grounds of human rights and equal opportunity but also on the grounds of health and well-being. It stands to reason that conflict between work and family responsibilities must affect morale and productivity - two components vital to the long-term interests of the community as a whole. Child-care and aged care become major issues within the context of human rights and equal opportunity.
It is interesting to note that, according to recent articles in the Business Review Weekly by Michelle Gilchrist, 86 per cent of women aged between 20 and 55 now work, compared with less than 28 per cent 30 years ago. In 56 per cent of two-parent families with dependent children, both parents work, and 46 per cent of all single mothers are now employed. As the Government is urging single parents to remain at work instead of receiving social welfare, there are more workers without a parent to help with problems at home. These figures reflect the significant social change which has occurred since the early 1960s. May I say that, in many jobs, women are still paid less than their male counterparts. It is great to see that this is slowly changing, but a bigger change still needs to come.
How do governments respond to these dramatic changes? One way, which Ms Follett noted in her speech on the Bill, is the Federal Government's recent ratification of the International Labour Organisation convention No. 156, Workers with Family Responsibilities. In ratifying the convention, and in establishing the work and family unit within the Department of Industrial Relations, the Federal Government has acknowledged that social, demographic and economic developments are changing the way that families and the work force interact. The work of the unit involves examining particular measures which assist workers to balance their responsibilities, therefore giving them a fairer go with regard to interacting both at their family level and at the employment level.
In addition, a growing number of companies and government bodies are responding in their own way by developing more flexible working arrangements to retain skilled workers, and therefore giving a better opportunity to workers. The Australian Taxation Office, for example, provides
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