Business wary of pay gap reporting

A LABOR plan to force companies to publicly disclose how much they pay women compared to men will be closely examined by the Coalition.

The sentiment comes as a leading business group has expressed concerns the proposal could heap extra regulations on Australian companies.

Minister for Women Kelly O’Dwyer said the policy was an “interesting idea” but wasn’t sure it would be effective and believes it may cause division.

“We think it’s best though to unite people rather than divide them and we have to be very conscious of the regulatory burden that would be imposed on businesses,” she told ABC radio yesterday.

The Opposition on Sunday announced the election commitment to make Australian companies with more than 1000 employees disclose their gender pay gaps.

Ms O’Dwyer said it was “early days” in terms of overseas data, but the Government would closely examine the results. The gender pay gap has hit a record low of 14.5 per cent under the Coalition, according to reporting by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, the minister said.

“It’s still too high but it’s certainly lower than it was and we need to look at practical measures for how we can get it lower,” Ms O’Dwyer said.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive James Pearson said businesses would be closely looking at Labor’s plan, with ACCI concerned it could be burdensome.

“Employers already have substantial reporting obligations in this area, so we need to think carefully about whether or not we should add further regulation,” he said.