2. Women Minister—Quotas for Women on BoardsHon PAULA BENNETT (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister for WomenWomen Minister—Quotas for Women on Boards2. Hon PAULA BENNETT (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister for Women: Does she stand by her statement regarding quotas for women on boards that I think that there's evidence that it's effective and if we can't achieve it otherwise then I think that we should be exploring it"; if so why?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER (Minister for Women): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Tēnā koutou e Te Whare. Yes I do stand by my statement and I can share with that member that evidence from countries that have introduced quotas on boards has shown a significant increase in women's representation and also improved quality and transparency of board appointment processes. I agree with that member on her prior press release in which she stated on 8 May 2017: "Research shows the benefits of gender diversity on boards. … The boards of NZX-listed companies still only have 17 per cent women and that's quite frankly not good enough."Hon Paula Bennett: How will she continue to increase the number of women on State sector boards given the record increase under the previous Government from 43.4 percent in 2015 to 45.3 percent in 2016?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: Thank you Mr Speaker. I am very ambitious for what we can achieve. I note that the previous Government dropped the target on public sector boards from 50 percent to 45 percent and perhaps that made it easier to achieve the target. But I think that we should be quite ambitious. We will continue to work towards a target of 45 percent or more and we do that quite simply by using the information that's available from the Ministry for Women. There are a large number of high-quality competent capable women who are willing to and able to serve on boards and we'll be appointing them.Hon Paula Bennett: In light of her beliefs that quotas are effective and that she'll "start with a conversation" will that conversation include discussions with Jacinda Ardern on how she can increase the number of women in her Government's Cabinet from 35 percent down from a record high of 40 percent under Bill English? Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: I believe that question is best directed to the Prime Minister who I am quite—[Interruption] Mr Speaker I'm trying to answer and they're interjecting.Mr SPEAKER: I can hear the Minister so she can just keep going. Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: OK great—great. I'm quite pleased to note that we do again have a female Prime Minister and I'm sure she will be a considerable ally to all women in New Zealand.Hon Paula Bennett: So does she believe that an organisation with 45 percent of women in its caucus but only 33 percent of women in their executive is one that is demonstrating leadership in increasing the number of women on boards and—as the Minister herself was just previously saying—is great gender diversity that leads to better decision-making?Mr SPEAKER: I'm going to rule out—this Minister does not have responsibility for percentages in the Labour Party caucus. Hon Paula Bennett: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Mr SPEAKER: A point of order—one crack at convincing me. Hon Paula Bennett: Yep. I think I was very clear in saying: does she believe that an organisation that has a certain membership then has representation in their executive? I could reword that for you sir if it would make you feel more comfortable. Mr SPEAKER: I'll be kind to the member and ask the Minister to answer. Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: For the sake of the member I would say that what we're focused on is increasing female representation on private sector boards and the way that I will address that is by opening up a conversation. The representation on private sector boards is less than 20 percent—17 percent—and so there's considerable room for improvement in that and I'm going to be opening up a conversation about women's representations with private sector leaders later today. Jan Logie: Is the Minister satisfied with progress towards gender equality on State boards and committees?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: No. I believe the previous Government let women and the State sector down when they dropped the target for State boards from 50 percent down to 45 percent and I believe they've failed to seize the opportunity to lead the conversation with New Zealanders about the effectiveness of specific policies to increase female representation in governance.Jan Logie: Has she seen any reports on progress towards gender equality and leadership in Aotearoa New Zealand?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: Yes I have. The New Zealand Census of Women on Boards published this year in 2017 says and I quote "… a quarter of the top 100 companies still have no women on their boards despite decades of political business and public concern about women's representation." Unlike the previous Government I don't believe this is a cause for celebration. I'll be a champion of women to change this."