☕️ Australia's biggest gender pay gaps revealed

Good morning!

And happy riddle day. Here is a rebus puzzle that conveys a phrase or a word that is a common idiom or expression. Can you guess what it means?

Answer is in the tidbit!

I’ve got 10 seconds

Quote of the day

“My national security advisor tells me that we’re close. We’re close, not done yet. And my hope is by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire.”
U.S. President Joe Biden on the possibility of a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza.

Stat of the day

30,000
Approximately how many people have been told to evacuate their homes in regional Victoria as “the worst possible” fire conditions are expected today. Victoria Premier Jacinta Allen said today is “likely to be one of the most dangerous fire days Victoria has experienced in recent years.”

Today in history

2013
Pope Benedict XVI resigned as the head of the Catholic Church. The then-85-year-old was the first Pope to resign in almost 600 years.

I’ve got 30 seconds

Some headlines from this morning:

• QLD’s Supreme Court has ruled the state’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for public service and health workers was unlawful. Frontline workers, including police and paramedics, were required to be fully vaccinated against covid by January 2022. A group of frontline staff challenged that requirement over claims it was discriminatory. This week, a judge ruled the mandate was in breach of the Human Rights Act, meaning the vaccine requirement for frontline workers will be scrapped.

• A proposal to ban pride flags in Tennessee classrooms is a step closer to becoming law, after a draft bill passed the state government’s lower house. Under the legislation, it would become illegal to display the rainbow flag in the state’s public schools. The proposal is part of a push to ban “ideological flags” which “represent a political viewpoint” from being displayed in schools. The bill passed the lower house 70 votes to 24 and will now be debated in the senate.

I’ve got 1 minute

NSW Police say they’re “very confident” they’ve located the bodies of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies

NSW Police say they are “very confident” they have located the bodies of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, who were allegedly murdered by a NSW police officer last week.

The bodies were found in Bungonia, a small town about 200km south-west of Sydney.

What we know

Last week, police launched an investigation into the suspicious disappearance of 26-year-old ex-Channel 10 presenter Jesse Baird, and 29-year-old flight attendant Luke Davies.

NSW police confirmed that last Monday, gunshots were heard from Baird’s Paddington address. On Wednesday, some of their possessions were found in a skip bin in Cronulla.

On Thursday, police searched a home in Balmain in relation to Beau Lamarre-Condon, a NSW police officer believed to be known to Baird.

On Friday, Lamarre-Condon handed himself in to police in Bondi. Within hours, the 28-year-old police officer was charged with two counts of murder.

Earlier this week, NSW Police said the accused had refused to assist them with locating the couple.

Investigations since have spanned multiple locations across NSW, including Sydney, Newcastle, and Bungonia.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said police were “very confident” they had located Baird and Davies.

Webb added: “This information did come with the assistance of [Lamarre-Condon] for which we're very grateful and I'm sure the families are very grateful.”

I’ve got 2 minutes

For the first time, gender pay gaps at the biggest Aussie companies have been made public

Australia’s biggest employers’ gender pay gaps have been revealed for the first time.

It comes after new laws mandated that employers with at least 100 workers publish their gender pay gap. This is nearly 5,000 private businesses.

The data, published by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), found that men earned more across every sector.

New laws

Last year, the Federal Government passed a law requiring businesses with at least 100 workers to publish their gender pay gap. This pay gap measures the median difference in earnings between men and women — the middle figure if you line up all payments from highest to lowest. It includes full-time, part-time and casual workers.

The law mandated the WGEA publish the data. It’s a national body tasked with reducing gender discrimination for workers around the country.

Yesterday was the first time this data has been made public.

What did it find?

The WGEA said a gender pay gap between -5% to +5% accounts for normal changes at workplaces.

It found the pay gap at more than three in five companies was over 5% in favour of men.

More than half of employers with more than 100 workers had a gender pay gap over 9.1%, favouring men.

It also showed companies with female leadership were more likely to have a gender pay gap closer to the WGEA’s target range.

Companies

Here are some of the companies that employ more than 250 workers and who fell within the top 5% of the highest gender pay gaps

Industry breakdown

Here are the median gender pay gaps across some industries from the latest data:

How to interpret

This data analysed the total remuneration of employees, including salary, bonuses and extra payments, such as commissions from sales.

However, it does not include the earnings of CEOs, Heads of Business or casual managers. This information will be included in reporting next year.

According to WGEA, nearly 80% of CEOs in Australia are men. It says the inclusion of CEO remuneration will have a “meaningful impact on employer average gender pay gaps”.

Responses

WGEA CEO Mary Wooldridge said: “The time for talk and excuses is over... Change takes action and employers need to double down on ensuring all employees are fairly represented and equally valued.”

Minister for Women Katy Gallagher said: “The release of employer gender pay gaps marks a historic step towards transparency and accountability in addressing gender inequality.”

Shadow Minister for Women Sussan Ley said: “To those organisations and businesses who have failed to meet the mark, you have been put on notice. We expect to see these gaps closing and we expect to see progress.”

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As mentioned above, Australia’s biggest employers’ were just forced to publicly reveal their gender pay gap.

We covered the companies with some of the biggest pay gaps favouring men – but what about the pay gaps that favour women?

We discuss it all in today’s podcast.

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Give me some good news

Students at a medical school in New York have been told they won’t have to pay any tuition fees, after 93-year-old Dr Ruth Gottesman, chair of the college’s board, donated $US1 billion ($AU1.5 billion).

The Albert Einstein College of Medicine said the money “will free up and lift our students… to pursue projects and ideas that might otherwise be prohibitive.”

Gottesman came into the money after her husband, who invested with billionaire Warren Buffet, left her a valuable stock portfolio when he died.

It’s one the largest donations ever received by a medical school in the U.S.

TDA tidbit

In case you missed it, a flying taxi company is hoping to transport attendees at the Paris Olympics and Paralympics. But it might not be ready in time.

In June last year, Volocopter received certification for one of its aircrafts from the European Aviation Safety Agency, but it still needs more regulatory approval to operate at the Games.

One issue is that the Paris City Government doesn’t think Volocopter is an inefficient mode of transport.

Paris Deputy Mayor Dan Lert said on X that the government should “abandon this useless and polluting gadget in the service of the ultra-privileged.”

However, Volocopter CEO Dirk Hoke told Aerospace America that he is confident the service will still be approved in time for the Games.

We’ll let you know what happens!

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Riddle answer: Thunderstorm.

TDA asks