Australian Government response to the Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee Report: Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Setting Gender Equality Targets) Bill 2024

The Australian Government agrees to this recommendation.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s (WGEA) Compliance Strategy, updated in July 2025, assists relevant employers to understand their obligations and responsibilities under the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (WGE Act). It also details how WGEA identifies relevant employers that are non-compliant and responds to such non-compliance. The Strategy outlines several examples that WGEA would likely not consider as a reasonable excuse for non-compliance. WGEA relies on the same meaning of the term as in other legislation and at common law, with the test being, ‘what an ordinary member of the community would accept as is reasonable in the circumstances.’

The Australian Government agrees to this recommendation.

The gender equality targets scheme has been designed in consultation with a range of stakeholders. The Australian Government supports WGEA’s continued consultation with relevant stakeholders, including unions, as part of the development of guidance materials for employers on target selection and compliance, where possible.

The Australian Government agrees in principle to this recommendation.

The Australian Government supports WGEA’s existing efforts to encourage consultation between employers and their employees on issues concerning workplace gender equality. The proposed target for Gender Equality Indicator (GEI) 5 focuses on improving employee consultation. GEI 5 measures when, how and how often employers engage with their employees on issues of workplace gender equality, employers who will be subject to the targets scheme are already required to have a policy or strategy on employee consultation.

The Australian Government will consider options to collect employer data on consultations undertaken between employers, their employees and workplace delegates on target selection and other measures to improve gender equality in the workplace. This would involve updating the employer questionnaire and the legislative framework. Any proposed amendments to the employer questionnaire would involve stakeholder consultation and be carefully considered for data value and utility, the established link with workplace gender equality outcomes, the reporting burden on employers, as well as privacy and legal considerations.

The Australian Government agrees to this recommendation.

In 2025, through its Building Australia’s Future: Labor’s Commitment to Women, the Government committed to strengthening compliance with procurement rules which make sure the Government is only working with companies that meet WGEA requirements. The Australian Government is undertaking a review of the Workplace Gender Equality Procurement Principles and will consider this recommendation as part of the review. This work also implements Recommendation 8 of the 2021 Review of the WGE Act.