5. Women Employment—Gender Pay GapJACINDA ARDERN (Labour) to the Minister for WomenWomen Employment—Gender Pay Gap5. JACINDA ARDERN (Labour) to the Minister for Women: Does she stand by her statement that closing the gender gap is one of my top priorities"?Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Women): Yes.Jacinda Ardern: If closing the gender pay gap is a top priority why was dumping the plan of action for pay equity audits one of the very first things her Government did when it came into office?Hon PAULA BENNETT: You will be pleased to know that it is my top priority as Minister for Women and I have been in the job for 2½ months and have already made a lot of progress there. So now we have 45 percent of senior leaders in the Public Service and I reckon that is going to make a big difference seeing women in those roles. Twelve of the 29 chief executives are actually women as well. We have now published the information for the Public Service which is making a big—Jacinda Ardern: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I was quite specific. I was interested in the rationale that her Government had for dumping the action plan around pay equity audits.Mr SPEAKER: And as Minister she is certainly responsible for actions that have been taken by the Government throughout its term so I invite the member to ask the question again.Jacinda Ardern: If closing the gender pay gap is a top priority why was dumping the plan of action for pay equity audits one of the first things her Government did when it came into office?Hon PAULA BENNETT: Because we had other priorities right then working into the global financial crisis. What I will say is that right now we are working on legislation around the Joint Working Group on Pay Equity Principles. We are working through in good faith negotiations on TerraNova Homes and Care and the work there with aged carers. We have also got two other claims that are in where we are as I say working through the principles as the legislation is happening as well and we are committed to making a difference in that area.Jacinda Ardern: If closing the gender pay gap is a priority has she reprimanded the Minister of State Services for the fact that the gender pay gap there is 22 percent and has gotten worse not better in the 3 years since she has been Minister?Hon PAULA BENNETT: The Public Service gender pay gap is actually 13.5 percent. That is where it is. This is the lowest it has been since the measurement began in 2000 and so that is what we are focused on. The gender pay gap is actually decreasing slowly overall. As I have also said we have got an absolute commitment. We have now got 45 percent women in senior leadership roles within the Public Service. It is the first time we have actually published the gender pay gap by department within the Public Service and we are committed to reducing it.Jacinda Ardern: If closing the gender pay gap is a top priority then what specifically has her Government done in 9 years as an employer and contractor to actually lift the wages of home-care workers and support workers?Hon PAULA BENNETT: Well as I have said numerous times we have actually increased the minimum wage every year since we have been in Government and that has made a difference. And we are currently in good-faith negotiations on TerraNova Homes and Care which will affect over 50000 women—predominantly—in that area.Dr Parmjeet Parmar: What is being done in the public sector to promote women to leadership positions and to close the gender pay gap?Hon PAULA BENNETT: There are some fantastic things that are actually happening within the public sector and I think it can set an example do better and publish those results. For example as I have already stated 45 percent of all leadership roles in the public sector are now held by women and we are well on track to get that to 50 percent. We now publish the gender pay gap by department so that we can see progress being made and we are doing that transparently. The Police for example has a target of 50 percent of new recruits being women and it also runs unconscious bias training which is making a difference. Defence has also noticed that it may have been getting more women in at the lower end but they were not actually progressing up into senior roles and so it has made a change to its processes and is taking proactive action there to make sure that it can get them in.Jacinda Ardern: If closing the gender pay gap really is a top priority can the public sector truly play a leadership role when the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment which is meant to model this to the private sector has a gender pay gap of 20 percent—higher than the national average?Hon PAULA BENNETT: But that is exactly why we published it that is exactly why we are going to make a difference and that is why we are going to close that gap. My point is and the point that we have been making—no one has been going out there and saying it is perfect. No one is going out there and saying that this is where it is at. What we are saying is that there will be significant improvements and we will stand up and be counted for it.Mr SPEAKER: Question—[Interruption] Order! Question No.—[Interruption] Order! If the members wish to carry on their discussion they are welcome to do it outside the House."