Local firms’ paygaps revealed

SUNRAYSIA businesses have made progress on the gender pay gap, but still have work to do, according to figures in a national report aimed at tackling the issue.

For the first time, the individual pay gaps of nearly 5000 businesses were published by the government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency earlier this week.

Of 13 firms identified as either being based locally or with a strong local presence, all were under the national median base salary gap of 14.5 per cent.

Mildura councillor Helen Healy said the WGEA data can be used in a number of ways to start a broader conversation about gender inequality and what the consequences of that can be.

“Through research, we know that gender inequality is a key driver of family violence,” she said.

“Gender equality has to be high on the agenda in Mildura because we have some of the worst family-violence stats in the state, so it’s critical that we have our eye on what’s happening in this area.

“I think it’s important to look behind the data and ask why.”

The publication of this data comes after the Federal Government passed the Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023, making it law for private companies with 100 employees or more to disclose the information.

Nationally, the WGEA median total remuneration gender pay gap is 19 per cent. This means that over the course of a year, the average amount a woman is paid is $18,461 less than the average of what a man is paid. 

Ms Healy acknowledged that Mildura as a whole was doing some “really solid work” on gender equality, and believed locals should be proud of how the city was progressing.

“We are not after perfection, we are after genuine commitment and improvement,” Cr Healy said.

“The more we have these conversations, the more we open our eyes to some of the inequalities.”

WGEA chief executive Mary Woolridge said international experience showed that publishing the individual gender pay gap results of companies was an “important step in accelerating change”. 

“Industry averages can mask the true picture of progress,” Ms Woolridge said. 

“Publishing employer gender pay gaps offers a deeper insight into industry performance and business performance that may have been hidden by averages in the past. 

“This new roadmap can help companies look at their policies and develop ­actions to better inform their own pathway for improvement.”

Median base salary gender pay gap

National gap 14.5%

Aligned Leisure -1.9%
Australian Vintage -2.2%
Bright Food Asia Pacific* 12.3%
CDC Australia 13.9%
Country Care 13.5%
Haeusler’s 8.5%
La Trobe University 7.5%
Madec Australia -1.2%
Mallee Family Care 9.5%
Select Harvests 1.3%
SMGT 3.1%
Sunraysia Community Health 2.3%
Tasco 0%

* Subsidiaries include Sunbeam Foods, Mildura Fruit Juices and Mildura Fruit Company