Workplace Gender Equality Procurement Principles

According to the Workplace Gender Equality Procurement Principles (WGE Procurement Principles), to be considered for Australian Government procurement contracts at or above $125,000, or $7.5 million for construction services, all tenderers with 100 or more employees must demonstrate they are compliant with the WGE Act by supplying a letter of compliance from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), either with their submission or before entering into a contract with an Australian Government agency.

Compliance requires relevant employers to report to WGEA on their performance against the Gender Equality Indicators (GEIs) and communicate their performance to employees, shareholders and governing bodies.

Employers with 500 or more employees (known as designated relevant employers (DREs) have greater compliance obligations. These employers are required to have policies or strategies in place for the 6 GEIs and communicate their performance to employees, shareholders and governing bodies. Starting in 2026, DREs that report to WGEA must also meet their obligations under the Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Setting Gender Equality Targets) Act 2025 with private sector employers required to select and report targets to WGEA from April to May 2026 and Commonwealth public sector employers from September to October 2026. To comply with the WGE Act, DREs will need to select, achieve, or make progress on 3 gender equality targets from a menu of numeric and action-oriented targets. Employers will have 3 years to meet or demonstrate improvement on their selected targets.

For further information on targets and how WGEA manages compliance refer to WGEA’s website and WGEA Compliance Strategy.

Refresh of Workplace Gender Equality Procurement Principles

In 2025, consistent with commitments in Working for Women: A Strategy for Gender Equality, the Australian Government announced it would strengthen compliance with procurement rules to make sure it only works with companies that meet WGEA requirements.

Earlier work undertaken in 2023 by the Office for Women (OFW) to review the WGE Procurement Principles found high levels of compliance, and identified opportunities to improve transparency and further strengthen compliance.

In April 2026, OFW completed an assessment of the current scope and processes involved in administering the WGE Procurement Principles. This considered ways to streamline and strengthen processes, and improve transparency and accountability of whole-of-government compliance.

Findings and insights from this work will inform a refresh of the WGE Procurement Principles, anticipated for late-2026.

Resources

Australian Bravery Decorations

On 23 August 2023, His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Retd), Governor-General, announced the Australian Bravery Decorations.

The Australian Bravery Decorations recognise acts of bravery where people selflessly put themselves in jeopardy to protect the lives or property of others. 

A list of the recipients is available on the Governor-General’s website and recipients who have agreed to be identified can be searched through the Australian Honours database. 

Decorations awarded include:

Magical Garma – in pursuit of Djambatj - brilliance, skill, excellence

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this article may contain images of deceased persons.

Nestled in the bushland of remote Northern Territory is the sacred Gumatj Bunggul ground in Gulkula. Every year in August, people flock from across the country to attend Garma – a 4-day celebration of Yolngu life and culture in northeast Arnhem Land. This year, seven lucky people represented PM&C at the country’s largest Indigenous gathering.

Secretaries Board and Strategic Leadership Group communiques: 16 August 2023

The Secretaries Board met today at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and discussed the following matters.

Closing the Gap - Productivity Commission 3-Yearly Review Draft Report

The Board discussed the Productivity Commission’s Closing the Gap 3-Yearly Review Draft Report and agreed greater strategic leadership to support accelerated action to consistently embed the four Priority Reforms of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap throughout the APS.

2024 Independent Intelligence Review

On 21 March 2025 the Prime Minister, the Hon Anthony Albanese MP, released the unclassified report of the 2024 Independent Intelligence Review.

The review was announced in September 2023 to ensure our intelligence agencies are best positioned to continue to serve the Australian national interest.

The review found agencies have been successful in protecting Australia’s national interest. It recommends investing in further capability to ensure the intelligence community maintains its high performance.

Background

The work of the National Intelligence Community underpins Australia’s national security objectives, including safeguarding Australia’s sovereignty in an increasingly uncertain security environment.

The National Intelligence Community is required to respond in complex and changing circumstances to protect Australia’s security, prosperity and values. Ongoing independent reviews of this nature ensure that our intelligence agencies remain ready to fulfil this mandate, and are aligned to Australia’s national security priorities.

The review focused on the 10 agencies that make up the National Intelligence Community:

  • Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission
  • Australian Federal Police
  • Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation
  • Australian Secret Intelligence Service
  • Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
  • Australian Signals Directorate
  • Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre
  • Defence Intelligence Organisation
  • Department of Home Affairs
  • Office of National Intelligence.

Independent reviews of this nature have been commissioned periodically, having previously occurred in 2004, 2011, and 2017.

Reviewers and responsibilities

The review was co-led by Dr Heather Smith PSM and Mr Richard Maude, who consulted widely, including through public submissions.

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