Make no mistake, the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022 is among the most significant reforms this parliament will consider. Workers' job security, work conditions and wages have been whittled away, little bit little, over almost 10 years of coalition governments. The previous government proudly admitted their intent to keep wages low, shamefully acknowledging it was a deliberate design feature of their so-called economic management approach. Insecure work and low wages were considered by the coalition, regardless of the pain inflicted on workers and their families.
This legislation is unashamedly about creating a fairer workplace. It's about giving workers job security. It's about ending the era of deliberate wage stagnation. At a time when the pressures of global inflation are hitting every household, our workplace laws are outdated and no longer fit for purpose. Anyone who genuinely cares about the cost-of-living impacts on hard-working people can't, in good conscience, support the ongoing wage stagnation built into the current system.
Earlier this year, prior to the election of the Albanese government, I hosted a secure jobs, better pay forum in my electorate with the now Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. The impact of the previous government's mean and repressive industrial relations policy was starkly clear. Among those who spoke were aged-care workers, people who dedicate themselves to looking after the frail and aged in our community. I thank them for their service and care. They spoke of being pushed to breaking point, in tears, expected to do more and more while receiving no meaningful pay rise for years. We heard similar stories from other sectors, distressing stories from workers locked into a cost-of-living squeeze because of low wages and feeling no way out.
People in my electorate of Corangamite are working hard. They take pride in their work. Nevertheless, they are going backwards financially after years of wage stagnation and rising costs. Unlike the previous government, the Albanese government is not prepared to sit idly by and do nothing to alleviate their pain. That's why these amendments to the Fair Work Act will deliver reforms across three broad themes: improving job security and gender equity, improving workplace conditions and protections, and boosting bargaining and restoring fairness and integrity to fair work institutions. We will abolish the draconian ABCC.
The Albanese government believes that getting wages moving is especially urgent in female dominated sectors. The gender pay gap still sits at an unacceptable 14.1 per cent. We've already made a submission to the Fair Work Commission that unequivocally supported a wage increase. Aged-care workers across our nation are in line for a much-deserved pay rise, with the Fair Work Commission making an interim decision for an increase in minimum wages of at least 15 per cent for aged-care workers in direct care. I know many MPs in this room fought for this. It should have happened long ago. For a decade, coalition governments told us that low unemployment would create pressure to push up wages. That didn't happen. That's why we need to change the law to promote job security, close the gender pay gap and get wages moving.
Years ago, job security was defined simply as the difference between being a casual or a permanent employee. Job security now takes many different, complex forms. Today there's the gig economy, labour hire, new forms of insecurity for part-time employees and rolling fixed-term contracts which effectively amount to a permanent probation period for employees. Legislation just hasn't kept pace with these work changes. We need fair, effective, up-to-date laws that deliver fairer outcomes for workers, reasonable wages and, importantly, better productivity gains for employers.
This bill is delivering in multiple ways on a raft of significant areas needing reform. Chief amongst the reforms is gender equity, which this legislation places at the heart of the fair work system. The Fair Work Commission will be required to take gender equity into account in all the decisions it makes. Over many years, present laws have placed obstacles in the path of workers seeking equal pay. These reforms will reverse decades of unfair outcomes for female workers by removing the need to find male workplace comparators in making decisions on wages. Last year, for example, our early childhood educators, including educators in my electorate, were unable to win a pay rise because they couldn't find an appropriate male comparator. There is not a male comparison group, and it was an impossible task. We're also stamping out workplace sexual harassment because that's central to achieving safe, productive and gender equitable workplaces. Under the previous government, there was no express prohibition of sexual harassment under the Fair Work Act. We're fixing that.
Many Australians are struggling to manage their work and care responsibilities. Women still take the main responsibility for caring work. They're often forced to drop out of the workforce or to take lower paid or less secure employment as a result. This is a major contributor to widening the gender pay gap and reducing superannuation for women as they move towards retirement. Flexible working arrangements in this legislation will not only help parents and carers; they'll also provide job security and an economic lifeline to employees with disability, older Australians, and workers experiencing family and domestic violence.
The number of workers on fixed-term contracts has increased by over 50 per cent since 1998. More than half of all employers engaged on fixed-term contracts are women. This bill will limit the use of fixed-term contracts for the same role beyond two years or two consecutive contracts, whichever is shorter. This bill also makes it unlawful to advertise a job for less than the applicable minimum rate. That should have been the case many years ago. Australia's bargaining system is not working effectively. It is broken, and it has not worked for a long time.
Yet we know that bargaining delivers simpler and more tailored workplace arrangements for business and, on average, more pay for workers each week, compared to those on awards. This bill honours commitments the government made at the Jobs and Skills Summit in September, and it will also make the better off overall test simpler, flexible and fair. Current approval requirements for enterprise agreements are onerous, complex and unnecessarily prescriptive. We'll make changes to fix this.
Now, those in opposition want more time to consider this bill. But why should workers wait any longer? The former government had nine years to increase wages. They did nothing. Instead, they fuelled a two-speed economy that denies women who work in child care, education and disability—and others who work delivering food or in the digital economy—the ability to earn more. Listening to the opposition, I feel like I've stepped back in time, with them dredging up the old bogeyman-union and scaremongering tactics. Australians and the world have moved on. They're looking for positive and constructive change, but it seems the opposition is stuck in the past. In contrast, our government is committed to fairness and integrity, tackling rampant wage theft, addressing workplace safety, promoting good workplace relations and enabling fair and just wages for women and men.
This legislation reflects the Albanese government's vision for a fairer, safer and more inclusive Australia. We stood for these things at the last election, and people across Australia voted in favour of them. While this legislation won't on its own fix every problem in our workplace relations system, it is an impressively strong start. I'm very proud of the Albanese Labor government, which is working to get wages moving after 10 years of neglect. I commend the bill to the House.
