The Albanese Labor Government is reaffirming its ongoing commitment to a safer, violence-free Australia for all women and children today in recognition of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and the launch of the United Nations’ global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.

To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Parliament House will light up orange – a powerful, visible reminder of the lives impacted by family and domestic and sexual violence – and importantly honour the lives we have lost.

Australia’s First Nations traders were our first exporters – from trading with Makassan seafarers from Indonesia for generations, to now exporting goods including native botanicals, art, design, cyber and clean energy solutions to world markets.

Last night in recognition of this long history, the Albanese Labor Government announced a new award category in the Australian Export Awards, starting in 2025, to celebrate the outstanding international success of our First Nations businesses.

Can I acknowledge the traditional owners of this land. It's just beautiful to be able to be here and acknowledge the local mob for here, but also each and every one of you who've travelled from across the country, I acknowledge each of you and your families and First Nations people from around Australia.

I'm encouraged because you walk into a room like this and you just see how many people have come together in the area of First Nations media.

Your voices, in every state and territory jurisdiction, really matters.

The dedication of the Mayala Indigenous Protected Area has today been celebrated with a ceremony near Ardyaloon, in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

The newly dedicated Indigenous Protected Area fills a key gap in a network of protected areas in the Kimberley. It covers nearly 12,000 hectares of land and over 360,000 hectares of sea Country.

It includes Tanner Island and a small area of the Port of Yampi Sounds.

A new scorecard released today by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency shows the gender pay gap has dropped from 21.7% to 21.1% - with women earning 79 cents for every $1 men earn.

This is the lowest WGEA gender pay gap since reporting started in 2014.

The Albanese Government is improving gender equality in Australian workplaces and taking action to narrow the gender pay gap.

The main driver of the decrease in the gender pay gap is a lift in wages for lower paid workers, especially in highly feminised sectors – like aged care.

A new scorecard released today by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency shows the gender pay gap has dropped from 21.7% to 21.1% - with women earning 79 cents for every $1 men earn.

This is the lowest WGEA gender pay gap since reporting started in 2014.

The Albanese Government is improving gender equality in Australian workplaces and taking action to narrow the gender pay gap.

The main driver of the decrease in the gender pay gap is a lift in wages for lower paid workers, especially in highly feminised sectors – like aged care.

OLIVER PETERSON, HOST: I want to go to Canberra now. The Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Patrick Gorman, joins us from probably colder conditions. Good afternoon.

PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, Oly, I know you didn't want a weather report from me, but it's actually quite pleasant here in Canberra.

PETERSON: That'd be the first time, wouldn't it Patrick?

GORMAN: But it's not quite as warm as it is there.

TOM CONNELL, HOST: The two major parties aren't agreeing on a lot at the moment, but electoral reforms are another matter. They're set to pass laws that won't come into effect until 2028. But Independents, Greens and others are saying it's all just an attempt to block them out from entering or growing their size in the Parliament. Joining the panel now is the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Patrick Gorman, who usually comes with a prop. Now you could have come with the big fat book of legislation, which would have led me to this question.

Introduction

Today the Government introduces the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Reform) Bill 2024.

It proposes the largest reform to Australia’s electoral laws in over 40 years.

Delivering on our commitment to strengthen and enhance the integrity of federal elections through improved transparency and accountability.

The Bill implements recommendations of the multipartisan Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM).

Those recommendations and this Bill seek to remove the influence of big money in politics.

Today’s release of the 2023-24 Survey of Trust in Australian public services shows continued strength of public confidence in government services across the country.

The Survey released by the Albanese Government shows 58 per cent of Australians have confidence in these services.

This marks the third consecutive year of stable trust levels.

The key findings of the report include: