Employers would get an extra year to set gender equality targets under new federal legislation
Australian employers will have more breathing room to develop meaningful gender equality strategies under legislation introduced into federal parliament on Tuesday, as the national government moves to overhaul the way companies report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA).
The changes, contained in the Regulatory Reform Omnibus Bill 2026, would grant employers an additional year between reporting on gender equality outcomes and setting new targets.
Current legislation mandates large employers across the country to select and commit to three gender equality targets that they need to achieve or demonstrate improvement at the end of three years.
Under the proposed reforms, a manufacturer that has met its current targets, for example, could spend more time developing its next set of goals, rather than rushing to complete paperwork.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, who introduced the Bill, said the reforms are "another step" in the government's productivity agenda.
"We are reducing regulatory burden and lowering compliance costs so businesses can spend less time dealing with regulation and more time investing, hiring, and growing," Gallagher said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the reforms also address a longstanding gap in how gender equality data is collected and compared.
Currently, reporting methodologies differ between Commonwealth public sector employers and private sector organisations, making it difficult to draw reliable sector-wide conclusions.
The changes would ensure data is comparable across both Commonwealth and private sector employers to provide a better whole-of-nation view of gender equality, and give employers a better opportunity to benchmark their performance.
Regulatory Reform Omnibus Bill 2026
The gender equality measures sit within a sweeping productivity package that the government says will reduce Australia's overall regulatory burden by $10.2 billion a year.
The Regulatory Reform Omnibus Bill 2026 spans 21 measures, amends 26 Acts, repeals two others, and touches 19 Commonwealth agencies.
Beyond gender equality, the Bill targets a range of other compliance pain points for businesses.
Importers will no longer face a mandatory 30-day appeal window when they have no intention of contesting a partial duty refund decision. Processing times for exemptions from anti-dumping and countervailing duties, where a tariff concession order is already in place, will fall from 26 days to zero.
The Bill also expands so-called "tell us once" arrangements, under which individuals and businesses provide information to the government a single time rather than repeatedly to different agencies.
Among the beneficiaries will be older Australians living overseas: pensioners aged over 80 who currently must visit an Australian consulate or doctor every two years to confirm they are still alive will instead have Services Australia draw on existing data-sharing agreements with partner countries.
The legislation builds on last year's Regulatory Reform Omnibus Act 2025, which the Government noted passed despite opposition from the Liberal and National parties.
Gallagher said the reforms are an ongoing commitment rather than a one-off exercise.
"These reforms show that good regulation can support growth while still maintaining the protections and safeguards Australians expect," she said.
