An industrial relations bill which passed through parliament today is set to majorly shake up the industrial relations system and improve the working lives of women. 

The Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill, passed after securing key support from independents in the Senate and House of Representatives.

The new IR laws set out a range of measures to ensure a fairer workplace relations system that provides Australians with job security, gender equity and sustainable wage growth.  

These measures include: 

• Banning pay secrecy clauses in contracts, a measure companies use to prohibit staff from talking about their pay. This aims to improve transparency and reduce the risk of gender pay discrimination, whilst empowering women to ask their employers for pay rises;  

• Placing the issue of gender equity as a central objective of the Fair Work Act, including within the modern award system, and “at the heart of pay decisions” made by the Fair Work Commission; 

• The establishment of two new Fair Work Commission expert panels on pay equity and the care and community sector, to tackle low pay and conditions in the female dominated care sector and help attract and retain workers. 

• Strengthening the Fair Work Commission’s ability to order pay increases for workers in low-paid, female-dominated industries by putting in place a statutory Equal Remuneration Principle like that which exists in Queensland; 

• Strengthening anti-discrimination provisions, including preventing the discrimination of the following protected attributes: breastfeeding, gender identity and intersex status within the anti-discrimination framework in the Fair Work Act. These classes have also been added as protected attributes under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984. 

At present the Australian gender pay gap between men and women is 14.1 per cent,meaning the average Australian women earns $263.90 less than men every week, according to the Australian Workplace Gender Equality Agency. 

“Women should not be paid less than men. It’s that simple,” Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke said.  

The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) has welcomed passage of the bill and thanked key senators for their support in getting the legislation over the line.  

“The federal industrial system has been broken for a long time and it is encouraging to finally see a government that is putting the needs of working women front and centre when it comes to industrial relations reform,” NSWNMA General Secretary Shaye Candish said. 

“With current inflation at an all-time high, the issue of income inequality between men and women must be a priority for all governments. Measures like this are a good start to address the low pay of women working in female dominated sectors, like nursing and aged care. Ending the gender pay gap starts with paying women what they are worth.”