The Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) has claimed the Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Setting Gender Equality Targets) Bill 2024 will create “significant unfairness,” particularly in regards to procurement eligibility.
Last Tuesday, Louise McGrath, Head of Industry Policy and Development at the Ai Group, told the Senate Standing Committees on Finance and Public Administration that the Group supports the advancement of gender equality and commends the ongoing efforts of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), but has “serious concerns” about the Bill.
As reported by PASA last March, the Bill could see Federal Government suppliers miss out on $70 billion in contracts if they fail to meet new gender equality targets.
Businesses with at least 500 employees will need to commit to targets to improve gender equality in their workplaces, with a focus on the gender makeup of their boards and the workforce.
Other key areas will include equal pay, flexible working arrangements, workplace consultation on gender equality, and efforts to prevent and address sexual harassment. Suppliers will not only have to set targets but also prove that they are making progress in these areas.
McGrath, who was joined by Yoness Blackmore, Ai Group’s Principal Advisor – Workplace Relations Policy, raised concerns about the Bill removing the existing discretion for procurement officers to consider gender equality within the procurement process.
In relation to the proposed application of the targets to procurement eligibility, the Group worries the Bill:
- discriminates against businesses with over 500 employees, which contradicts the core principles of the Commonwealth Procurement Rules (CPRs) and the World Trade Organisation Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA)
- applies in a discriminatory and unfair way against employers who have made significant progress
- creates an unfair competitive environment for domestic as compared to overseas businesses
- will result in different targets being applied to different businesses which undermines the principles of competitive neutrality and a level playing field
- provides no certainty on what is a “reasonable excuse,” instead leaving it to WGEA’s discretion
- fails to provide an external mechanism for review of WGEA decisions, despite these potentially having a significant financial impact on a business
McGrath said making employers ineligible for government work is “entirely inconsistent” with the objectives of the WGEA Act, which focus on promoting gender equality by supporting employers to improve gender equality in employment and the workplace and, by doing so, to improve the productivity and competitiveness of Australian business.
Reminding the Committee that the Workplace Gender Equality Procurement Principles were developed on the basis that WGEA was a “light-touch regulator,” McGrath went on to challenge this.
“Locking members out of government procurement is not light touch and is not collaborative, especially in circumstances where there is no ability for members to adapt targets during the three-year period, ‘reasonable excuses’ for failures to improve or achieve the targets are at the discretion of WGEA and where members have no access to an external review mechanism,” she said.
McGrath also highlighted that submissions made to the Committee from other stakeholders do not refer to any research undertaken or provide any substantive justification as to why it is necessary or desirable to include the enforcement measure in the Bill.
“It is significant and completely unsatisfactory that neither the impact analysis addendum accompanying the Bill or the impact analysis related to implementing the recommendations of the Workplace Gender Equality Review Report have undertaken any specific analysis regarding this procurement eligibility measure – despite the fact that it may have significant adverse effects on our members’ productivity, competitiveness and financial performance, and in the face of a plethora of business challenges.
“On that basis, we recommend removing this mechanism from the Bill,” she said.
Ai Group is a peak national employer organisation that represents employers of all sizes conducting business in traditional, innovative and emerging industry sectors.
View the government’s vision for gender equality across the country over the next 10 years here.
