Rethinking 'Women's Work'

Dust, drinks and gold fever filled the cold hall in Coolgardie where the Western Australian Labor Party was founded on the afternoon of 11 April 1899. 

Not one woman was amongst the 28 men who formed what is now the Western Australian Labor Party. 

They would not have imagined that 123 years later the party they founded would send a majority of women parliamentarians to a place called Canberra as part of a Federal Labor Government. 

These men could, however, imagine that a stable, fair industrial relations system was key to getting the workforce that WA needed for the gold rush and the inequality that came with it. The Australian Labor Party still shares that belief. 

Today, Western Australia is proudly one of the wealthiest states in the world. Our workplace relations system has helped us to get there. 

People move here from across the country and across the world for a beautiful environment, lifestyle and secure well paid jobs. 

This is not the experience for everyone. For many in our workforce they have seen their real wages go backwards and their jobs become less secure.

The gold rush is long gone, but the gender pay gap still exists, women’s work is undervalued and workplace sexual harassment is not properly prohibited.

Further, Western Australia has an increasing number of people in work but not in a secure home. Increasing numbers of people leaving jobs they love in the care economy to take higher paid jobs in the hungry resources sector. 

This is unsustainable. The Australian Government wants to make sure that people who have the skills we need and careers they love can stay in their industry. 

Without workers to educate our youngest Australians and workers to care for our oldest and most vulnerable Australians our economy will halt. 

This economic challenge is one of the reasons why the Albanese Government is legislating for secure jobs and better pay. Ideas that have come out of the Jobs and Skills Summit and will help lift productivity for employers and improve the lives of working families. 

Disappointingly, some are already threatening to run emotive scare campaigns. And the seriously out-of-touch WA Liberals are saying that the current system is working well. 

The truth is that the system as it currently stands is holding our economy, our society and our people back. 

Currently, it is legal to advertise a job at less than minimum wage. We will make that illegal. 

Currently, workers can be on rolling “fixed term” 12 month contracts for decades. We will make it easier for employers and workers to transfer to permanent work. 

Currently, gender equality is not an object of the Fair Work Act. Our legislation will ensure that gender equality is a goal of our workplace laws. 

Currently, our system can’t properly deal with the undervaluation of work done in women-dominated industries. Decades, sometimes centuries, long undervaluing of work done by women is no longer acceptable. This legislation gives the Fair Work Commission the power to include consideration of whether there has been historical gender-based undervaluation. 

Currently, employees can be disciplined for sharing the details of their pay. Pay secrecy is a decision for an employee, not their employer. This legislation allows for workers to decide who they talk to about their money. 

Currently, sexual harassment in the workplace is not expressly prohibited. The Respect@Work report noted the need for urgent change here. This legislation delivers that change. 

Employers in Perth have raised many concerns about the complexity of the “Better off Overall Test”. This legislation will make that test simple, flexible, and fair. 

We know that there are workplaces where enterprise bargaining isn’t working. Aged care, disability care, and early childhood education. So this legislation delivers support for these workers so the Fair Work Commission can support bargaining for low-paid professions across multiple employers. 

It is important to note that this legislation is about making our economy more productive. That’s why there are a number of safeguards. These include prohibition on pattern bargaining and mandatory arbitration to bring protracted strikes to an end.

There are no surprises in what the Albanese Labor Government is seeking to do. Getting wages moving again is key to our economic plan. It is what we were elected to do. 

Like those crowded in Pearce’s Hall in Coolgardie back in 1899, I want more Western Australians to have the economic security that comes from decent, secure work. 

The Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill is part of delivering that better future.