Today while nurses and midwives rallied outside Parliament, Abigail confronted the Treasurer in Question Time about Labor's refusal to meet their demands.
In Question Time, Abigail said:
My question without notice is directed to the Treasurer. On 1 October, Treasury's new mandatory Gender Impact Assessment Policy will come into effect. Given that the gender pay gap in the New South Wales public sector has deteriorated for at least three years in a row and given the Government's supposed focus on reducing the gender pay gap in the public sector, as detailed in the Gender Equality Budget Statement, how can the Treasurer justify the inadequate pay offer made to nurses and midwives, one of the most feminised industries in our State?
The Treasurer responded: I thank Ms Abigail Boyd for her excellent question, and I am really pleased that the gender impact assessment budgeting tool is due to commence on 1 October. So members know what we are talking about, the gender impact assessment tool is a way for Treasury to provide modelling about the impact of certain policy interventions and investments on gender equity in New South Wales. It is an excellent thing, and I give credit to the former Government, which commenced some of that work and formed that unit within Treasury. I am pleased that this Government inherited such a position. In the course of last year and this year the Government has made sure that Treasury has the level of resources required to produce gender impact assessments. I am also really pleased that is happening alongside the new Indigenous budgeting tools. The work that I am doing with the Treasury on the forthcoming intergenerational report, which I look forward to speaking to the House about at some length next year, will take advantage of the additional tools the member makes reference to. As for the specifics of her question about the fact that there has been a decline in the gender pay gap in the public service over the past three years, it is fair to say that that is something the Government inherited. Government members are well and truly alive to those consequences and take very seriously our responsibility to do what we can to close the gender equity gap when it comes to pay. Firstly, the historic agreement we reached last year with the Teachers Federation has already seen more than 16,000 teachers convert from precarious casual employment to permanent employment. They are predominantly women. The fact that they bargained for, fought for, won and are now getting secure work reflects the Government's work to close that gap.
The second point I make in response to the question of what the Government is doing to close that gap is that it has empowered the Industrial Relations Commission to consider the claims that the Nurses and Midwives' Association is making, to adduce such evidence and to independently respond. That brings me to the third aspect of the question. I was asked how the Government can justify its current offer. The offer would see nurses get 40 per cent more than the previous Government offered them, and it follows the largest pay increase for nurses in more than a decade. Of course, the nurses are entitled to argue for and bargain for more. The Government has built a system that allows them to bring claims on pay under a gender lens to an independent umpire. Federal nurses get that as a result of Federal Labor, and State nurses get that as a result of State Labor.
Abigail then asked a follow up question:
I ask a supplementary question. Will the Treasurer elucidate his answer by telling us whether he will commit to requiring that the bargaining parameters and pay offer provided to New South Wales nurses and midwives undergoes rigorous gender impact assessment scrutiny, as will be compulsory for all new policy proposals from 1 October 2024, and to making the findings of that analysis public?
The Treasurer responded: When it comes to using the gender impact assessment tools, I will allow Treasury and other experts to decide whether that methodology should be applied in the formal way that the member asks. The Government bargains under a different policy framework, which already includes the ability to reference those issues. From our perspective, we have well and truly constructed bargaining parameters that allow us to have these conversations. We have done more than that. In the event that we cannot reach agreement, we have brought back an independent umpire that has, as part of its responsibilities and its frameworks, the opportunity to examine claims that are made on gender equity grounds. We affirm and celebrate the right of any part of our public sector workforce to make use of those provisions if they so choose. We now have an independent industrial court that is capable of determining those claims. We will allow the Industrial Court to do its job.