Genter Julie AnneThird ReadingHon JULIE ANNE GENTER (Minister for Women) on behalf of the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety: I move That the Equal Pay Amendment Bill be now read a third time. This Equal Pay Amendment Bill marks an important step in the journey towards workplace gender equality building on the Equal Pay Act to make it easier for women to ensure they are paid fairly for their work. Pay equity is about the principle that women and men should be paid the same for work that is of equal value. It's a simple idea but unfortunately one that has not yet been achieved despite it being a priority of Kate Sheppard so many decades ago. This bill is not just about women and men who sit next to each other in the same workplace doing the same job; it's about fixing the injustice of female-dominated workforces being paid less than male-dominated workforces to do work that requires a similar level of skill effort and education. In Aotearoa New Zealand we have had a long history of paying female-dominated workforces less. Because this has gone on so long it has become normalised invisible to many and extremely difficult for any one woman to change for herself. To solve this we need to rewrite the rules so that women are supported and empowered to negotiate equal pay for work of equal value. While women have been able to take their employers to court in the past and win the reality is this is too high a bar for many women and for many workforces. It forces employees and employers into a costly protracted and adversarial situation. This bill moves pay equity negotiations from the court to the bargaining table. It creates a framework and a set of rules to support female-dominated workforces and their employers to identify and correct pay imbalances. This process is based on the evidence. It is fair and reasonable for employers and workers alike. We all do better when people are properly valued and supported to do their work especially the caring work that has not often been highly valued in our society. I think we saw a perfect example of that during the level 4 COVID-19 lockdown when many of our essential workers it turned out were some of the lowest-paid workers and yet they were the ones who enabled our society to continue functioning in the middle of a crisis. So this bill lowers the bar for historically female-dominated workforces to raise a pay equity claim by advising their employer in writing that they consider their work is undervalued. This process makes court an avenue of last resort for workforces and employers rather than the first step and I'm really proud that we're progressing a bill that is fair to both employees and employers. The process set out in this bill has already been used in the State sector which has allowed us to see the impact it can have on people's lives. Recently teacher-aides—a hard-working skilled but historically underpaid profession—negotiated a settlement for over 22000 employees. This settlement secured an extra $178 a week in remuneration for the lowest-paid teacher-aides. Care and support workers also recently settled their pay equity claim and the comments from those women highlight the real-world benefits these settlements have on people's lives. One woman who benefited from this settlement told us Now I am able to save for my son's future." Another said "It means I don't have to work myself into the ground and now I get to see my family." Another said "It has made it easier to pay the bills and has given me and my child a better quality of life." We're not talking about dramatic changes but we are talking about change that is fair and that allows people to be paid to live dignified lives and that is something all of us in this House should be proud of. Finally I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the expertise and work put into making this bill what it is today: the tripartite working group who agreed the principles that guide this bill; all those who made submissions to the Education and Workforce Committee with some of them sharing what must have been very difficult experiences; the input from the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions and BusinessNZ; and my colleague Iain Lees-Galloway who did significant work on the bill; the officials and the many women who wrote to me to share their views on this important issue; and of course Kristine Bartlett whose campaign for equitable pay laid the groundwork for this legislation. There is still work to do to close the gender pay gap especially the ethnic pay gaps and to ensure all women and all people are treated equitably in the paid workforce. There is also work to do to recognise the unpaid work that is predominantly performed by women. This bill is an important milestone and we can do even more. But this evening I'm very proud of where we have got to and I look forward to the passing of this bill."