EQUAL PAY DAY: STILL NO ACTION

Today is Equal Pay Day, marking the 66 extra days since the end of the financial year that women must work to earn the same as men.

For 20 years, there has been no real progress reducing gender pay inequity in Australia.

Earlier this year, a Federal Government agency told Parliament that Australia is 50 years away from closing the pay gap.

A recent Senate Inquiry, led by Labor Senator Jenny McAllister, found Australia needs a national policy framework to achieve gender pay equity.

Yet the Liberals have no plan to reduce pay inequity.

Instead, Malcolm Turnbull has made matters worse by throwing his full support behind cuts to penalty rates, which have been proven to have a disproportionate impact on women.

It’s time the Liberals took action on gender pay inequity.

Labor is committed to tackling inequality wherever we see it.

Working an extra two months to earn the same as men is an unfair deal.

Undervaluing work because it’s mostly done by women is an unfair deal.

Labor will continue to work to tackle the gender pay gap by helping support the test case to deliver fair pay to early childhood educators.