The Business Council of Australia is strongly supportive of workplace initiatives that aim to improve gender equality and all efforts to remove barriers to workplace and community participation.

We are pleased that the current Bill addresses several of our earlier issues.

However, we remain concerned that certain parts of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Amendment Bill 2012 would unnecessarily increase business reporting costs and fail to achieve the Bill’s objective to improve workplace gender equality.

We believe the most effective way of encouraging the adoption of work arrangements that increase gender equity is through the provision of information that demonstrates the benefits of such arrangements, not by imposing additional reporting requirements on business.

We are also disappointed that the regulatory compliance requirements would be imposed on all businesses employing 100 people or more regardless of their past performance and efforts to improve gender equality.

Submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Amendment Bill 2012