Senator GIBBS (6:59 PM) —I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

The Affirmative Action Agency is responsible for administering the Affirmative Action (Equal Opportunity for Women) Act 1986. The act covers all private sector organisations, higher education institutions, group training schemes, unions, community organisations and non-government schools with more than 100 employees.

The objective of the Affirmative Action Agency is to achieve equal employment status for women and to assist in the elimination of employment discrimination. I would like to draw to the Senate's attention what I believe to be one of the agency's most important roles: monitoring the actual progress of businesses in implementing affirmative action programs. It is good to know that businesses and other groups around Australia are starting to realise that it makes sense to treat women as equals and to promote programs that help women realise their full potential.

The agency acknowledges that reports made to it by various groups show incremental improvements to various practices. Nearly 300 organisations have been identified as best practice. There are, unfortunately, 55 organisations that have not met their reporting requirements under the act. I am not going to single out organisations that are identified as best practice, nor am I going to single out the ones that are non-compliant. I do want to draw the Senate's attention to the fact that the best represented private sector companies in the annual report's list of best practice groups are machinery and equipment manufacturing companies and metal ore mining companies. Universities and a number of community groups are also listed. I congratulate the organisations in those areas, especially the equipment manufacturing and mining industries, that have made those achievements in a particularly difficult trading environment.

There are a lot of statistics in the annual report, but let me focus on one particular area that the agency looked at: recognising that women are more likely to be the primary caregiver to children is extremely important. Overall, 66 per cent of organisations look at workplace agreements and awards for their possible impact on women's conditions of employment. Private sector companies are becomingly increasingly aware of the need for this, with 71 per cent saying they looked at this in 1998. This was up from 65 per cent in 1997 and just 48 per cent in 1994.

The agency reports that `part-time work with pro-rata conditions continues to be an increasing feature of employment practice across all sectors, with almost 86 per cent of all organisations utilising part-time employment'. Unfortunately, the provision of paid maternity leave is widely disparate across the different sectors. The private sector, despite increases of one or two per cent in each of the last four years, still has maternity leave provision rates of less than 17 per cent—less than one in five. Thankfully, the percentage of schools, higher education institutions and community groups providing this condition is much higher.

All of the sectors examined are increasingly implementing job-sharing. A total of 67 per cent of private sector companies are providing job sharing opportunities. That is up 23 per cent since 1994. All of these initiatives give women a better chance of pursuing a career and starting a family.

Let me finish by congratulating the staff of the Affirmative Action Agency for all they have achieved in promoting the role of women in the work force. I hope they continue their good work next year and beyond, especially in light of the proposed changes to the act under which they operate.

Question resolved in the affirmative.