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FIRMS with more than 100 workers will face spot checks and mandatory reporting on the numbers of women they employ and their position under tough new measures aimed at boosting gender equality in the workplace.
Minister for the Status of Women, Kate Ellis, said the government would strengthen equal opportunity laws to ensure they achieved "tangible" results in workplace equality.
An extra $11.2 million will be given to the newly-named Workplace Gender Equality Agency to collect more information on working conditions for women and provide assistance for firms lagging behind in their employment of women.
Government contracts would only be directed towards those organisations that complied with the new rules, Ms Ellis said.
Information provided to government by companies will have to be signed off on by employee representatives and chief executive officers.
Ms Ellis warned regular inspections would be conducted to ensure businesses were truthful in their reports.
"There will be regular spot checks to ensure that the information that organisations are providing to the government actually matches how they conduct their day-to-day business," she said.
Mobile support teams would also provide assistance to businesses performing poorly in terms of gender equality, including smaller businesses.
The new reporting regime will provide the government with a better insight into pay gaps and trends in female promotion.
"For the first time, businesses will be required to report on the indicators that matter, on the actual figures of gender composition of their organisations and their boards, on their employment conditions and whether they have flexible work practices for women and men," Ms Ellis said.
"No more good intentions - we want outcomes."
Ms Ellis said the government would use its spending power to assist in altering the workplace gender mix.
"Government trade with a non-compliant organisation will not just be discouraged, it will not be allowed by law," she said.
"The government is using our power as a consumer to say unless you are actively pursuing gender equality in your workplace we are not interested in doing business with you."
There will be no legislated gender targets imposed on companies under the plan.
However businesses will be deemed non-compliant with the new rules if they fall short of “industry benchmarks” and fail to improve over a two-year period.
They will also be in breach of the rules if they fail to lodge a report as required or fail to substantiate their report.
Non-compliant companies will miss out on industry assistance, grants and government contracts.
The Coalition's acting spokeswoman on the status of women, Bronwyn Bishop, said the new diversity regime was “the sort of thing you would expect from a totalitarian regime”.
The proposal would lead to tokenism and the promotion of women simply because they were women, Ms Bishop said.
“What it does is make women permanent second class citizens. It opens the minister up herself to being called a token female in the ministry.”
Ms Bishop described the announcement as “heavy handed, half-baked policy, wasting $11.2 million dollars”.
She said it was part of an agenda to strip away the right of employers to run their businesses efficiently and employ people on merit.
Ms Bishop questioned who would conduct the spot checks proposed by Ms Ellis.
“Trade unions dressed up as members of the agency?” she asked.
“The whole thing just smacks of the dead hand of government.”
The government's changes go further than current gender equality rules which apply to ASX-listed companies.
Under ASX corporate governance principles, listed companies must publish workplace gender diversity policies and disclose each year their objectives for achieving them.
They are also required to disclose the proportion of women in the organisation, in senior management positions and on the company's board.
The government remains committed to a 40 per cent representation of women on government boards by 2015.
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