Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Amendment Bill 2012

The majority agreed with the main idea of the bill (in parliamentary jargon, they voted to read the bill a second time). This means that they can now discuss the bill in more detail.

Main idea of the bill

The bill makes three main changes. It will:

• widen the applicability of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999 from just women to both women and men and so also change its name to the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012;
• introduce a new and simplified process for employers to report how they are meeting certain gender equality indicators; and
• increase compliance with the Act.

Background to the bill

During the 2010 election campaign, the Labor Government made a commitment to reduce gender inequality. Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Penny Wong, said that this bill is part of that commitment.

Read more about the background in the bills digest.