08/05/2025
Nicola Willis MP, June 24, 2020, second reading of Equal Pay Amendment Bill
“National supports the Equal Pay Amendment Bill. We support it for the very good reason that we think that gender should not be the basis for determining the pay that someone gets and that men and women deserve not only equal pay for doing the same work but equity in the payment for the work that they do based on the value of that work rather than the gender of the people doing it. This is what this bill sets out to achieve and it establishes mechanisms which allow people to make claims where pay equity and equal pay principles are not upheld.
“So when my two daughters grow up, how will we know whether this bill has actually been successful? Well, we know that this bill’s been successful when we actually see that these sorts of claims are no longer necessary, because we’ve established a framework in which people don’t want to have to be doing compensation and that they pay people fairly to begin with. But we will also see that that gap between the pay of men and women, which currently sits at about 9.3%, is reducing in real time.”
Nicola Willis, July 22, 2020, third reading of Equal Pay Amendment Bill
“I’m proud to stand in this House tonight and say that National will support this final reading of the Equal Pay Amendment Bill. And I’m proud that our party has contributed to crafting this legislation and bringing it to the House. We support the simple concept that people should be paid the same for the same work, regardless of their gender, and we support the equally important concept that, if someone has been doing work and there are reasonable grounds to believe that that work has been historically undervalued based on their gender and has been underpaid because of that, they should be able to make a pay equity claim.
“I want to put on the record that we are hopeful this process works as well as possible for all parties to it. We want to see women being able to progress their claims for pay equity as easily as possible, and we want to see employers being engaged in good faith in that process to address claims.
“This is an important moment. Equal pay matters. We still have an outstanding gender pay gap in this country. We all, I believe, want to live in a country and a world in which men and women have equal opportunities, are equally rewarded for their work, and are able to progress and fulfil their own potential to the maximum extent possible. This legislation provides a further step in the right direction, and I commend it to the House.”
