00:00When you look at the gender pay gap, which is the average remuneration of men and women
00:07and the difference between the two, it's 6.4% at the federal public sector. The comparator
00:15in the private sector is 21.1%, so substantially different. Now, of course, any aggregate hides
00:23some detail underneath it, but what that shows is consistently federal public sector agencies
00:29are performing well, although there is a range, of course.
00:32Okay. So what are the actions which have been effective in the public sector which would
00:36make a difference for private sector employees?
00:39Well, I think there's been a concerted effort over an extended period of time, identifying
00:45equality and fairness in the workplace as a priority. And there's an expectation of Commonwealth
00:53agencies that they have a strategy to address gender equality, that it's led by the CEO or
00:58the secretary of the agency. There's plans in place, there's resources committed and there's
01:03oversight and analysis to see the impact that's being achieved through the work that's happening.
01:10And that's certainly what we recommend is what needs to happen. It needs to have the leadership
01:15from the top, but throughout the organisation and a genuine commitment to drive change.
01:20And the solutions aren't the same in whether it's public sector or private sector. In any employer,
01:26there's different solutions, but you have to do the work and it has to have that commitment
01:30to get the outcomes that we're seeking.
01:32So the gap may be smaller in the public sector, Mary, but it's still there. Are you confident
01:36that public employers are trying to achieve parity? And when might they do that?
01:42Well, I think the journey and the reductions that we're seeing over time are very positive in relation
01:49to that. And I think there's been a clear articulation from the government of a commitment for public
01:54sector agencies to have a focus on this. And that's translating through to action at the employer level.
02:01I couldn't say, you know, we want to accelerate change. That's part of what publishing gender pay
02:06gaps, which is what we're doing for the first time today for the public sector, brings transparency
02:11in accountability to speed up that rate of change. And it's very hard to pick an end date, but the sooner
02:18the better. Now, it's the first time that pay gap data for the public sector has been published.
02:24Why has it taken until now to do that? So we've published the private sector twice,
02:32and it's just a quirk of the legislation and the timing of reporting for the Commonwealth public sector.
02:38That means this is the first opportunity we've had to publish the gender pay gaps.
02:43But from here, we'll be publishing each and every year and publishing that information
02:48on the data explorer on the WGIA website so that all employees and the broader community can see
02:55how these public sector agencies, along with private sector counterparts, are performing.
03:01And that work will go on from year to year. So not only can we see the absolute result,
03:05but the improvements and the progress over time. So what more needs to be done then to improve
03:11better balance in the workplace, in the public sector then, Mary? What's the data saying to you?
03:16Well, one of the key areas where there's a difference that's driving part of the gender pay gap
03:23is the difference between base salary and discretionary payments. So things like overtime and bonuses.
03:30And it's those discretionary payments that are quite a substantial driver of the gender pay gap.
03:36So agencies that have those gaps need to be asking the question and doing the analysis.
03:42Why are men accessing those discretionary payments more than women are? What's the limiting factors?
03:49And can things be done to address that? Now, partly with overtime, it's additional hours and people might
03:55not have the opportunity to put their hand up for them. But it is doing that analysis and working
04:00through what could be done differently so that men and women can equally access the opportunity to
04:08have higher remuneration through the process. We also do see there's still some differences in the
04:14proportion of women in the workforce and how that's reflected at the most senior levels. So we definitely
04:20have better results in the Commonwealth public sector than the private sector, but there's still a gap
04:24between that proportional representation at the most senior levels that needs to continue to be worked on.
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