15th Jun 2020, 4:16 PM – Senate Motions - Women: Employment - Prioritise

The majority voted against a motion introduced by Queensland Senator Larissa Waters (Greens), which means it failed.

ACT Senator Katy Gallagher (Labor) said that:

Labor understand the intent of this motion and support a large part of it, but I think the inclusion of paragraph (a)(iii) means that we will not be in a position to support it today.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) the Government continues to exclude over 1 million casual workers from the JobKeeper payment,

(ii) the Government has announced it will axe the JobKeeper payment for childcare sector workers on 20 July 2020, and

(iii) the Government has agreed to consider Labor's call to reduce the JobKeeper payment for low income earners;

(b) further notes that the above issues negatively impact women as:

(i) women have been hit hardest by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,

(ii) women account for a disproportionate share of the casual workforce,

(iii) in February 2020, the full-time average weekly earnings of women was $1,508, so reducing the JobKeeper payment for low income workers will have a significant impact on women,

(iv) women's underemployment ratio now sits at an unprecedented 16 per cent, compared to 14 per cent for men; and

(v) the last census indicates that over 90 percent of childcare sector workers are women;

(c) also notes that the Government's stimulus response disproportionately benefits men, fails to support low-paid and female-dominated industries, and undervalues unpaid labour activities, which are largely performed by women; and

(d) calls on the Government to support women in work instead of continuing to prioritise measures that will see women lose hours, lose jobs and lose income.