SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P J KEATINGO, MP
INAUGURAL FORUM OF THE COALITION OF AUSTRALIAN PARTICIPATING
ORGANISATIONS OF WOMEN ( CAPOWI)
It was with great pleasure that I accepted your invitation
to participate in today's seminar.
I have some important announcements to make concerning the
subject of this seminar, Australia's landmark antidiscrimination
legislation, the Sax Discrimination Act.
I will also announce changes to our Affirmative Action
legiglation. It would be hard to think of a better occasion to make these
announcements than the first event organised by Australia's
first coalition of women's organisations, called
appropriately enough CAPOW!
I am informed that CAPOW! aims to Increase communication and
cooperation between Australia's leading women's
organisations. Some twenty national women's organisations have indicated a
wil. lingness to participate in the coalition when issues
arise that concern their memberships.
This is an important new development in the political
evolution of women's groups in this country and r wish the
coalition every success.
I am very happy to be associated with your first public
event. I understand that six organisations participated in
arranging today's forum, among them such long-standing
2
groups as the Women's Electoral Lobby, the-Australian
~ e~ raft oBn sinss nd roessional Wom-en and the YWCA.-
-Wendy Fatin, who assists me on Status of Women matters, was
a founding member of WEL, and I know she was also involved
In the formation of another of today's sponsors, the
National Foundation for Australian Women.
The remaining two groups involved today are the ' Australian
_ WomeA'sHeLalt h __ Net -work and the National Woman's Housing
Caucus, both examples of newer bodies representing community
interests important to women.
These are all groups with whom the Government has worked
closely, both through the Office of the Status of -Women in
my department, or through their periodic membership of the
-National-Women'sConsultative Council.
This partnership between women's organisations and the
Government is important.
It's important to us because we value your opinions and
your advice.
It's important to us because you help us communicate with
women in the community, and because your policy skills and
political hard work have contributed greatly to Australia's
proud record in advancing the status of women.
I hope it's important to you as well.
I trust that you value the access this Government has
accorded women's organisations in its policy making process,
including representation at such important national
gatherings as the 1985 Tax Summit and the recent Youth
Summit, as well as your involvement in various advisory and
consultative bodies.
This partnership between women and government has evolved
during the ten years of this Government.
It is our way Labor's way of working with
org anisat ions.
It involves mutual trust and mutual respect and a genuine
sharing of views.
We don't always agree with one another, but at least we
listen and we talk. It is a means of moving forward,
together, towards our shared goals.
our partnership with you over the past decade has produced
an unprecedented program of reform.
integral to that program was the Sex Discrimination Act and
the Affirmative Action legislation but before I move on to
fay announcements in that area, I would like to take the
opportunity you have given me today to share with you some
of my own observations on the changing status of women.
I am sometimes accused of being " urcntutd when it
comes to the subject of women!
Well perhaps in the past there was some truth to that, but I
can assure you that no father of daughters these days can
stay unreconstructed for long and I have three daughters!
I watch them growing up and I worry for them sometimes, as I
know tho world can still be rough on women.
That alone would be sufficient motivation to do everything
in my power to make the world a better place for women.
But in fact my learning process started even before my girls
came along.
I have sisters too, and when I reflect back on when we were
growing up I realise that I had advantages that were denied
to them.
I see now that that was unfair.
I have learned, too, from the subsequent lives of some of
the girls I went to school with. One in particular had a
very hard time when her husband left her stranded with three
little kids.
I've also learned from women I have met in my capacity as a
politician representing a suburban electorate west of
Sydney. But I've done more than listen and learn I've acted.
The media would have you thinking that I'm living testament
to the joke that compares Australian men with Treasury bonds
the difference being that Treasury bonds eventually
mature! Well, as Treasurer, I did more than wait for bonds to
mature! I am proud of what I was able to do of benefit to women.
As Susan Ryan _( who is here today) will tell you, I'm sure, I
gave her support in the Cabinet room for the policies she
brought forward including the sex discrimination
legislation.
My colleagues and I made sure we found the funds for
programs like child-care a program which, I don't have to
tell this audience, has expanded almost five-fold since
Labor was elected.
The one program where I did get directly involved and of
which I am immensely proud is the Child Support Agency.
I was instrumental in placing that Agency within the
Australian Taxation Office which, I can tell you, was not
exactly rapt in the idea back in 1988 when I proposed it.
But they accepted the idea in the end and now can take the
credit for overseeing one of the most effective methods in
the worl of collecting child support from non-custodial
parents. Since the Agency was established, we have gone from
collecting maintenance payments from only 30 per cent of
non-custodial parents to 70 per cent.
And few things have given me greater pleasure in government
than to see justice brought to these shirkers and for the
women and children they left behind to be able to improve
their standard of living through payments they are fully
entitled to receive.
During the past nine years there has been an Increase of
million jobs, current unemployment levels notwithstanding.
Women got 64 per cent of those jobs.
Bill Kelty and I arranged for supplementary payments to go
to low-paid workers the vast majority of whom are women,
and the Minimum Rates Adjustment progress which saw childcare
workers and others receive hefty and deserved
increases. I backed the portability of award superannuation which saw
women,, many for the first time in their working lives, able
to save for their retirement and not be totally dependent on
a husband's super.
And there have been other innovative actions.
For instance, I appointed Anna Booth as the first woman
member of the board of the Commonwealth Bank and Hylda Rolfe
to chair the Prices Surveff-fance Authoriity.
As Prime Minister I have reminded Ministers of the
importance of appointing appropriately qualified women to
major boards and authorities.
Women now make up around 20 per cent of statutory and nonstatutory
appointments.
This is not a high number but it is an improvement on the
1988 f igrure of only 12 per cent.
We can do better than this and we will.
I was very pleased a few weeks ago when my colleague the
Treasurer, John Dawkins, announced the historic appointment
of Janet Holmes a Court to the board of the Reserve Bank.
Yet another milestone for women.
Under my Government, there will be many more.
I am proud to be part of a Government which has earned
Australia a reputation world-wide for its progressive
women's policies.
Several months ago, I had the pleasure of presenting
Australia's secondCE -DAW -Report to Mrs Mervat Tal la-wy,
chairwoman of the UN Committee on the El-imination of
Discrimination Against Women.
During that presentation, Mrs Tallawy told me she considered
Australia to be at the forefront of countries that had made
major improvements in the status of women.
Let me assure you today that my Government will continue
those progressive policies.
Even in the six months since I delivered the One Nation
statement we have been able to build on the achievements of
the 19809 and continue our programs of innovative change.
In addition to our major infrastructure reforms, In road and
in rail, in electricity and in aviation, we are continuing
our economic and social reforms.
The Superannuation Guarantee Levy, which will give lowincome
women for the first time access to retirement _ income.
An extra 27,000 child-care places and an increase in fee
relief to reduce child-care costs for 135,000 families.
in health, major reforms to-Modicare, including $ 50 million
this financial year to reduce waiting lists, and a further
$ 1.23 billion over five years to improve access to public
hospitals. in women's health, a major new program was recently
finalised when 11l the States and Territories signed on.
As my colleague the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for
Health, Housing and Community Services, Brian Howe,
announced earlier this week, 5 million Australian women will
be covered by the cervical cancer program which will provide
screening via pap sm; earsi every two years for all women aged
between 18 and
We announced a S93 million package of support and assistance
for carers most of whom are women.
I know only too well how valuable is their compassionate
work in caring for elderly and disabled people.
And much much more.
Gone I hope forever are the days when women's
contribution to the economy, and to society as a whole,
could be ignored.
Gone as far as this government is concerned are the days
when women Is needs could be overlooked.
The transformation of women's lives over the past two
decades is one of the most dramatic social movements we as a
country have ever experienced.
Women have moved into the labour market in massive numbers.
From being just 33 per cent of the labour force in 1972,
women are now 42 per cent.
in 1972, 39 per cent of women were in the labour force.
Today 52 per cent are and Government projections suggest
that by the time we reach the next century, 61 per cent of
women will be in paid employment.
Around 40 per cent of adults in the workforce have dependent
children, and 45 per cent of women whose youngest child is
aged under four are in paid employment.
women are entitled to economic independence and the figures
I have just quoted suggest large numbers of women are eager
to achieve it.
There are many rewards to being in the labour force, besides
earning an income and gaining an identity beyond one's
family roles.
But there are many stresses Involved in trying to reconcile
our working and family lives.
Women shoulder most of this burden, or should I call it a
" double burden", because women tend to be the ones who have
the unpaid job of managing the time-tables of family members
and who run family finances in addition to their paid job
outside the home.
But increasingly men are being cailed on to share these
responsibilities and this is a good thing. But I know
from my own experience the strains this can put on people.
As a Government we recognise the burdens on workers with
We ratified ILO Convention 156 in 1990 and we are currently
developing our policy responses to strongly promote the
implementation of this convention.
In particular, we will be encouraging employers to make
work-places more " family friendly" so that our private and
public lives can mesh more harmoniously than is often the
case today.
These kinds of stresses are not the only problems women face
in the workplace.
There is also sex discrimination. Being overlooked for
promotion. Sexual harassment. Barriers sometimes overt
and ugly, sometmsqieubl and even invisible that
stand in the way of women participating fully in the
economy. As a Government we are absolutely committed to identifying
and removing such barriers where we are able, or to
providing remedies to women to take action where that is the
appropriate recourse.
Pre-eminent in the latter category is the Sex Discrimination
Act and the Affirmative Action Act.
These two pieces of legislation stand as one of Labor's
greatest achievements.
When the Sex Discrimination Act was enacted in 1984 it
became tangible evidence of our commitment to advancing
women's equality.
The Affirmative Action legislation, proclaimed in October
1986, was a world wide first in providing a legislative
framework to assist companies to identify and remove
barriers to equal opportunities for women in employment.
These laws served as a benchmark o f our determination to do
all we could as a Government to retrench attitudes and
practices that discriminate against women.
They provided legal remedies for women to use against those
who would deny them equal opportunities, and they ensured
that special programs for women to counter discrimination,
or recognise women's special needs, would be available and
lawful.
As a GovernmTent we are proud to have crafted such an
important reform.
And let me take a moment to pay tribute to Susan Ryan.
I'm sure Susan won't mind if I describe her as the " big
sister of the Sex Discrimination Act".
After all, as an Opposition Senator she first introduced
similar legislation as a private members bill in 1981 and
later, as a Cabinet Minister, made sure this legislation was
an early priority of the first Hawke Government.
The legislation has worked.
Women have used it to seek justice and redress.
It has helped change attitudes towards discrimination and
has made us understand how widespread and unacceptable
sexual harassment is.
But like most laws, these need to be scrutinised from time
to time to ensure that they are in tune with current
realities.
We have been given the opportunity to revisit this
legislation with the report of the Lavarch Committee on
equal opportunity and equal status for women in Australia.
That report, entitled Half Way to Eaa. contains seventynine
recommendations,'-many of which deal with the operation
of these two law.
I expect to be able to respond to the report as a whole
later this year, but today I went to announce the
Government's response to those recommendations which refer
directly to that legislation.
Our full response is set out in considerable detail in the
statement which I have released today.
Copies are available to all present at today's seminar.
Since some of the responses are somewhat technical, I will
not mention themi all here but simply concentrate on those we
judge to be the most significant.
The Government has decided it will amend the Sex
Discrimination Act in the following ways:
6 by extending the Act to cover federal industrial awards
and certified workplace agreements made after the date of
the amending legislation.
This means individuals will be able to complain to the
Sex Discrimination Commissioner about the discriminatory
operation of awards and certified workplace agreements
and she will be able to refer the complaint to the
Industrial Relations Commission which will be required to
vary the award unless there is a compelling public
interest reason not to.
0 by prohibiting dismissal on the grounds of family
responsibilities. by strengthening the sexual harassment provisions of the
Act.
We will remove the need for a complainant to demonstrate
disadvantage; it will be sufficient for the complainant to
have felt offended, humiliated or intimidated by the
behaviour in question and that It was reasonable to have
felt that way.
We will make sexual harassment of students by other
students, and staff members by students unlawful, extending
the present provision which covers only the harassment of
students by staff.
We will extend the operation of the sexual harassment
provisions to the provision of goods and services and to
other areas where discrimination is unlawful under the Act,
for instance to unions, club., employment agencies and
bodies deciding employment qualifications.
Women will gain greatly from this strengthening of the Act.
Imte as lanlords cannot harass tenantsfr, xmpe
We will further amend the Act:
* by allowing complaints of victimisation to be dealt with
by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner by conciliation.
Previously, people who complained of victimisation had to go
to the Federal Court and argue their case all over again to
seek redress; this Is an expensive and daunting procedure
and the Government was concerned that it may have deterred
women from making justifiable complaints.
* by ensuring that determinations of the Human Rights and
Egmal Opportunity Commission are registrb-e in the
Federal Court when they are made.
In the absence of an appeal, the determination becomes
enforceable as an order of the Federal Court, thus
increasing the effectiveness of determinations of the Sex
Discrimination Commissioner which at present are not binding
in responding to the Lavarch Report and following a
statutory review by _ my -colleagthuee Minister for
Industrial Relations, Peter Cook, we have also agreed to
significant amendments to our Affirmative Action legislation
in order to strengthen its effectiveness.
We have decided to adopt a policy of contract compliance,
whereby all Government departments will ensure that
recipients of Government contracts and industry assistance
have met their obligations under the Affirmative Action
-legislation. My colleague the Minister for Administrative Services,* Nick
Bolkus, has already announced that his Department would not
purchase goods or services from suppliers who do not comply
with the Affirmative Action legislation.
Other departments will follow suit as soon as the
operational details are worked out.
We have also decided to extend the operation of the Act to
cover voluntary bodies employing 100 or more paid employees.
This will bring an estimated 60,000 additional employees
under the Act and will mainly affect the largest charities,
independent schools and the Catholic school system.
It is the Government's intention that these amendments to
the Sex Discrimination Act and the Affirmative Action ( Equal
Employment Opportunity for Women) Act will be passed before
the end of this year.
The Government has classified them as " essential for
passage" during this sitting of the Parliament.
We want to ensure these important and necessary reforms are
implemented as quickly as possible.
Our response to the Lavarch Report has been framed with
care. We wanted to be able to reply to the Report as quickly as
possible, but we also needed to be sure that the legislation
would be improved by any changes.
With some of the recommendations, we felt that more time was
needed to consider and consult before agreeing to amend the
legiselation. For instance, the Government is aware of the concern by some
women's groups that S. 33 of the Act be amended to ensure
that special measures to promote equal opportunity for women
are not unlawful.
We also know that many of you are worried about the test for
indirect discrimination.
Both of these are complex and difficult matters.
I note that you are holding workshops on each of them this
afternoon. I do ask that you convey your recommendations to
my Office or to the Office of the Status of Women because
these are among a number of Lavarch recommendations which
the Government has decided to accept in principle but wanted
more time to consider.
I have asked my colleague the Attorney-General, Michael
Duffy, who was responsible for framing the amendments to the
Sex Discrimination Act, to come back to the Government in
February next year with definitive responses on those
recommendations.
There are two exception.
we as a Government felt we needed a longer period of time to
consider the implications of removing the permanent
exemption of the Australian Defence Forces in respect of
women in combat.
My colleague the Minister for Defence Science and Personnel,
Gordon Bilney, has agreed to re-examine that exclusion and
its legislativa basis after he receives the results of a
review of women employed in combat-related positions later
this year.
Similarly, it was the Goverrnent's view that the
implications of the exemption present enjoyed by religious
schools needed to be thoroughly examined, and widely
consulted, before a decision was taken.
In both these cases, the Government has agreed to reconsider
the recommendations in September 1993.
To sum up, the overall response I have been able to provide
today is comprehensive and very specific.
I have tried to avoid becoming too technical while providing
you with a flavour of the extent of our response.
I am satisfied we have been able to respond positively to
the vast majority of the recommendations and that where we
are not able to act immediately, we have signalled our
intention to do so after adequate investigation and
consultation. Finally, let me commend Michael Lavarch and the Government
members of the House of Representatives Standing Committee
on Legal and Constitutional Affairs for their thorough and
constructive report.
They have led us through a complex set of issues with
clarity and vision.
But I'm sorry I can't say the same for the Opposition
members of that Committee who presented a dissenting report.
They took the view that some of the recommendations for
changing the legislation would have " the consequences of
diminishing rather than enhancing the equal opportunity and
the equal status of Australian women"!
Well, let me say that this is just one more area where the
Government and the Opposition are poles apart.
We recognise and want to eradicate inequality, injustice and
unfairness. They want to create new hierarchies, new division., new
tensions and new antagonisms in our society.
We want to work in partnership with the important Australian
groups. We want to consult with and listen to women's organisationa,
business, trade unions, welfare groups, environmental
groups, young people.
Our one nation is predicated on reconciling the various and
differing elements of Australian society.
We want fewer tensions.
We want less aggression and violence.
We want to close the distances in our nation, be they
between cities, between sectors or between sexes.
We want accord and harmony.
These are our common goal.
We as a Government and, I am confident in saying, you as
members of women's organisations, are dedicated to improving
our society, to making it a fairer and nicer place.
I was criticised earlier this week by the press for devoting
my entire speech at the National Press Club to a critique of
Fightback!
But my main business at the Press Club was to analyse the
opposition's policy because I hold such strong views on the
damage that Fightbanki would do to this country were it ever
to be put into practice.
I hope you will forgive me for saying so in this forum but I
believe I would not be doing my job if I were not to alert
Australians to the fate that I am convinced awaits them if
Dr Hewson and his band of wreckers were ever to get their
hands on the levers of Government.
__ fjqhtback! is a damaging and destructive doctrine.
It is especially unfair to women.
The Opposition is trying to peddle the fantasy that our
proposed tax cuts are of no benefit to women.
Low income earners, many of whom are women, would not
benefit from our policy, they allege.
well, let me set the record straight.
It is Fightback! and the CST that women should fear
Fightback! will tax the purse and compensate the wallet.
Give male earners an income tax cut while their wives are
slugged with a 15 per cent GST on every item of food and
clothing required by the household.
Is this the Coalition's idea of fairness? To leave women to
bear the brunt of the tax?
Under the Coalition's enterprise bargaining system, women's
wages are likely to fall back to the low levels of twenty
years ago when women earned on average only 67 cents for
every dollar earned by men.
Under Labor's centralised wage-fixing system, the earnings
gap between women and men has been reduced.
A recent ILO study noted Australia's record, showing that
award rates of pay for full-time, adult non-managerial woman
are now 90.1 per cent of the earnings of their male
counterparts, leaving aside overtime.
By extending the Sex Discrimination Act to industrial awards
and certified workplace agreements, as I announced earlier,
we are demonstrating the strength of our commitment to a
fair, award-based industrial relations system.
The barbaric survival of the fittest ( and the strongest)
policies of Dr Hewson would force women workers off awards
and into individual employment contracts where their wages
and conditions could be substantially reduced.
make no mistake about who would suffer most under Fightback!
women.
Child-care will be more expensive because of the OST.
More than 100,000 women would lose their Family Allowances.
Health care would once again become an entitlement of the
wealthy. The Coalition would close down the Affirmative Action
Agency, slash the resources of the Human Rights and Equal
Opportunity Commission and, thus, the Sex Discrimination
Commioaioner, and generally reduce the role of government in
promoting fairness and opportunity for all Australians.
But most of all it would deny us our vision and our
determination to make Australia a better and a more
equitable society.
Imagine an Australia where women could pursue their dreams
and their ambitions, unfettered by discrimination, no longer
harassed or deterred by man-made barriers.
An Australia where women were not " half-way to equal" but
where we all lived in peace, harmony and equality.
I can imagine such a place.
It's where I want to live; it's where I want my daughters to
live. it is 8 place we can achieve by working together, the way we
do now.
I give you my solemn undertaking today that I will work
hard, do my bit to help us get there.
Together, in partnership, I am convinced we can make it.
CANBERRA 19 September 1992