Page 659 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 24 February 2010
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reviews and inquiries undertaken at a national level. Officials have been working hard to unpack the issues behind the gender pay gap. The next gender pay gap equity roundtable will be held on 25 February and the ACT Office for Women and the Office of Industrial Relations will participate.
Ms Hunter has proposed some actions in relation to pay equity. Ms Hunter calls for an equity pay audit of the public service. My amendment goes to the notion that this is no simple task—that is the advice I have—and it has not been undertaken across other public services in Australia. I note that the New Zealand government has, in recent years, undertaken a pay equity review in the public sector at a cost of around $8 million. Victoria and Western Australia have also committed significant resources to undertaking voluntary audits in a small number of public and private sector organisations, but these have not been across government. I respect the notion that we do have to look at gender pay equities. My amendment goes to just investigating the burden and how we could do it in the ACT.
We understand that the resources have been developed. They include the development of analysis tools, which require information down to the individual employee level of detail, including an individual’s qualification and ongoing training and development, comparisons of the value of positions, analysis of factors such as the availability of flexi hours and work arrangements.
The Commissioner for Public Administration advises that, according to the 2008-09 ACT Public Service Workforce Profile, there were 20,111 employees in the ACT public service, with women comprising over two-thirds. Amongst the primary occupations within the public service, women outnumbered men in all areas, except ambulance officers, medical officers, correctional officers, IT officers, firefighters, bus operators and general service officers. These ratios are reversed for executives and statutory office holders, where over one-third are women. The relative number of female executives has steadily increased from 34 per cent in 2000-01 to 40 per cent in 2008-09. But I recognise that we can do better on that as well.
In 2006-07, the average salary package for female executives was slightly higher at $146,218 than their male counterparts at $145,962. In 2007-08 and 2008-09, male executives earned a higher average package than female executives. The ACT Public Service Workforce Profile is published annually by the Commissioner for Public Administration and provides detailed remuneration data for women and men in the ACT public service.
Mr Speaker, in the last two years this government has announced a number of key initiatives to seek to assist women reach their full economic potential. In 2008, Minister Gallagher launched the women’s return to work grants. This initiative, delivered through the Women’s Information and Referral Centre, is particularly designed to assist women on low incomes and with young children to overcome the barriers that many women face when returning to work after an extended period of being out of the paid workforce. This program is about providing practical support to assist women to increase their potential as employees, by funding skills development and other employment-related expenses.
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