Episode 8: Julie McKay on why focusing on diversity, inclusion and well-being is critical

Episode transcript

Peter Van Onselen: The 2020 federal budget included wide ranging announcements and it's important that these announcements and policies are assessed from a diversity and inclusion perspective to ensure they are equal at a systemic level.

So how do the announcements stack up from the perspective of female workforce participation, cultural inclusion, social investment, indeed mental wellness. Is the Federal Budget good news for vulnerable Australians and those with disabilities? And how about their carers? In this episode, we'll find out how the 2020 Federal Budget rates from a diversity and inclusion perspective. My name is Peter Van Onselen and you're listening to the PwC Federal Budget Podcast.

I'm joined now by Julie McKay, the head of diversity, inclusion and well-being at PwC. Thanks so much for your company. Let's get right into looking at the budget from the perspective of what was included when it comes to looking after vulnerable people in particular but also aspects of diversity and inclusion and ensuring people's wellbeing. What really struck you as important that was in the budget?

Julie McKay: Peter I think like most Australians I was incredibly excited to see the $5.7 billion included for frontline services and suicide prevention. We know that this year probably more than any other in history the mental health and wellbeing of our communities has been challenging and will continue to be challenging.

And so the investment in those services is really critical and important and I'm confident that we will be able to place a real focus around some of the high risk populations, for example LGBTI young people, as we start to see where that funding is invested in the programmatic delivery.

The budget was fundamentally one of job creation and there's some fantastic initiatives for young Australians in particular. I think the important factor now will be to ensure that the jobs that are created are distributed fairly with a specific focus on underrepresented and vulnerable groups.

And I was also interested to see the work that was done around women's economic security. Like many women, many Australians I feel that we still have more to do to ensure women's economic participation and security. But I was pleased to see the parental leave work test being shifted to hopefully see more women able to access paid parental leave and some of the investment in workplace sexual harassment as well.

Peter Van Onselen: You've already touched on some of the ways in which there's been a recognition in the budget of mental health needs in particular cohorts of the community. What about more broadly there is so much attention on mental health now in the context of COVID-19. What did you make of the attention paid in the budget?

Julie McKay: Peter I think one of the things about 2020 that I hope will change the course of history will be that we have found a way to have a better conversation as a society about mental health and wellbeing. There are very few workplaces, community organisations and families who are not talking about the importance of mental health and wellbeing as part of their conversations in normal life now.

And my real hope is that we will be able to reduce the stigma that still sits around the experience of mental ill health in Australia and around the world. The significant investment in the budget $5.7 billion for programs, for frontline services and suicide prevention is I think a testament both to the urgent need for those services to be expanded but also the community's recognition of the fact that this is a problem that sits on the shoulders of all of us and is not just something that individuals need to face into and solve.

There has been an announcement of $5 million to specifically focus on services for parents of those from culturally and linguistically diverse communities. There's been some specific funding announced for different telephone counselling services. For me as the funding detail comes through making sure that we've acknowledged the importance of investing in high risk populations, particularly LGBTI young people and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will be really important.

And then the other key pace I think that we absolutely should acknowledge is doubling of Medicare funded psychological services. So where people would have previously been able to access 10 funded services they will now be able to access 20 with a mental health care plan. We all will recognise that difference that type of investment will make for every individual who is on a mental health care plan

Peter Van Onselen: So let's go into some of those areas maybe starting with what is in the budget for young people we know that they're one of the groups that have been disproportionately impacted certainly in jobs since by COVID-19. How do you feel about the initiatives that you've seen in the budget on that front?

Julie McKay: I think the focus through JobMaker and JobTrainer and the particular focus around apprenticeships will absolutely support young people to be able to access opportunities that would not be available without those subsidies in place. And so that's a great thing. And we should be really conscious of that.

Young people have absolutely been among the hardest hit with disruptions to their work and to their study. And finding meaningful pathways for them to get back into that study and ultimate career will be really important.

For me the important piece from here will be how do we make sure that the jobs that are created through these subsidy programs become long term roles, become careers as opposed to being roles that are available for as long as the subsidies are available and that's where the risk exposure is.

And I think that responsibility actually sits with the business community and with employers to say what are the ways in which we can actually create really meaningful exciting long term opportunities for these young people who will work hard, who will reward those employees with their talent and with their loyalty.

Peter Van Onselen: And what about for women because there's been some commentary that suggested more could have been done on that front. There are certainly initiatives within the budget to try to assist women both into work as another vulnerable group but also more broadly. But as I say more to be done as well. How do you see the budget on that front?

Julie McKay: I think the high level statement of $240 million being invested into different programs for women is just that. It's an investment in a number of different programs which will have a benefit for the women who are able to access those programs and those programs include the establishment of the Respect at Work Counsel some investment in STEM programs and entrepreneurs spending which are all positive things.

The important piece is really to ensure though that where the majority spend in this budget is around infrastructure creation of jobs in construction how we ensure that jobs in those areas are going to women, how we ensure that in all aspects of the budget spend that there's consideration of the gendered impacts and when we think about tax reform the gender impacts of that. And that's where I think the next few weeks will be really critical to actually understand in more detail what some of those gender implications are.

There's obviously a lot of concern that there was no additional funding for child care except in Victoria. And while I wish it was true that families made decisions about childcare as a percentage of total income total family income, we know that the reality is that in most Australian families the decision about whether a woman can return to work is made based on the childcare offset against their earnings.

And so there is a big barrier still for Australian women to return to work after having children. But childcare is also a female dominated industry. So investment in that can be a really exciting job creation mechanism as well.

This government has done a lot around domestic and family violence and the national action plans and so there was some new announcements of funding for family violence in cross-examination in the court process and some additional funding over four years to support the federal Family Court orders under the National Domestic Violence Order scheme.

And again those seem like small amounts of money but they are really important investments in ensuring that the legal system can protect domestic and family violence victims. Again, we know that through covered domestic and family violence rights have been on the increase. And so we need to hear the feedback from our service providers and frontline workers which are the services that are really struggling to provide adequate support to victims and find ways to get that funding support out in a sustainable way.

Peter Van Onselen: What about older Australians. What's in the budget for them? And I mean the different groupings within that group - older Australians still working, older Australians who are retired, but also older Australians who are within the aged care system.

Julie McKay: It was a really mixed bag for older Australians. There was some fantastic investment in home care. So $23,000 additional in home care placements which means that people can stay in their homes with dignity and respect that they absolutely need and deserve. And I think that's a really exciting investment for older Australians.

We're obviously still awaiting the outcomes of the royal commission but there has been significant investment already in this Budget to improve the quality and security of formalised aged care facilities which again is really positive for older Australians who are still in employment we probably have some work to do and the burden of these sits both with government but also with employers.

We know that older Australians have been disproportionately impacted by job losses and also reduced hours through covid and through this year. So ensuring that we don't just invest in job creation for young people, but we also find ways to incentivise employers to create roles for older Australians will be really important.

We know particularly older women are one of the fastest growing groups of homeless Australians because they simply don't have the retirement savings and so if their careers are further cut short by losing roles through this current downturn that's going to have an enormous impact.

And so in that space again I think there's some amazing NGOs doing work to try and connect older Australians to employer opportunities. And we have to lean into that, PwC has to lean into that and every other employer has to look into how do we make sure that our that our older Australians are valued and and being supported into work

Peter Van Onselen: And what about First Nations peoples? That's something that the budget has identified as a group in need of support in the context of covered in particular.

Julie McKay: There was a lot of hope that this budget would contain refreshed Closing the Gap targets and a real commitment to ensuring that the targets that were identified and the progress that was committed to a number of years ago was receiving adequate support and we didn't hear that in the budget.

What we did hear was a very significant investment in $150 million in Indigenous home ownership in regional areas. Some small but significant funding for mental health and suicide targeted to the development of culturally safe prevention and early intervention services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people and the investment in 2000 staff positions to support the attainment of year 12 and JobSeeker services. On that one I do note that there hasn't been a comparable investment in girls education.

And so that's probably an opportunity where we can really challenge around that and ensure that we can expand the number of positions that are offered potentially through a different program to ensure that both young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boys and girls are getting that investment to complete Year 12 and ultimately find employment.

Peter Van Onselen: You've already talked about various vulnerable groups but what about the broader notion of the vulnerable and I'm including in that people with a disability for example. What is in the budget for vulnerable Australians as a whole?

Julie McKay: A cause very close to my heart there was a $10 million investment set aside to ensure that young people could be transitioned out of aged care facilities. Too often we still have young people with disabilities living in aged care because there isn't an alternative arrangement. And so a specific and targeted intervention in that space was a really exciting announcement.

We did see some changes to DES availability which would see people with a disability who are deemed eligible to work more than 30 hours no longer eligible for DES and combined into the job active programs. And what that would mean Peter is essentially that anyone with a disability who can work more than 30 hours a week would no longer be receiving that very specific support for their disability to access employment.

And I think that's a real concern because we do know that people with disabilities are among our most likely to be negatively biased in employment processes. And so there's a piece of work again that now sits with employers to ensure that we've got adequate systems and supports available for that group of people who identify as having a disability but can work more than more than 30 hours a week.

We've seen big investments in housing particularly that the billion dollars into low cost finance for a national affordable housing through the National Housing Finance Investment Corporation. I mentioned before the $150 million for new First Nations home ownership programs but we still haven't seen a really significantly funded multi-year homelessness and housing strategy that includes social housing and so the work now I think sits with the state governments to say how will we respond to that and ensure that social housing investment is included in our state based budgets.

There is also a group who will undoubtedly be impacted when the JobKeeper and JobSeeker payments ends in December. And so the need to continue the conversation around what is a livable wage in this country and how we ensure that people who are not able to work or who are not currently in work are not forced into poverty is going to be a really big national conversation that we all need to face into.

Peter Van Onselen: Julie, what should businesses be looking to do from here based on what's in the budget to be able to ensure that they have the kind of diverse and inclusive workplace going forward?

Julie McKay: It's never been more important for businesses to have a real focus around diversity and inclusion. For the industries that are going to be able to significantly expand their workforces as a result of the budget having support specific targets for the employment of women and other underrepresented groups as part of their hiring strategies is going to be really critical. And ensuring that not just the numbers the targets are in place but also a focus on how you ensure that those individuals who are brought into the workforce are included, supported, trained and engaged is a huge opportunity for businesses not just to do the right thing but to build the high performing teams that will deliver the best outcomes for these for these very significant national projects.

I think they should actually be some accountability for employers who are accessing the programs that have been announced in the budget so that they should be asked to report on the number of women and other diverse groups that they are actually hiring and supporting. And there should based on transparency and accountability around that from employers to ensure that we don't end up in a default position where 90% of the jobs that are created in the budget go to men, but I also think it might be time for a national conversation around the Workplace Gender Equality Act and agency.

The agency does an incredible job of holding employers over 100 employees accountable for progressing the gender diversity. I suspect it's time to widen the scope of that agency to ensure that we've actually got better visibility with regards to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment, the employment of people with disabilities, those who identify as LGBTI, older Australians, younger Australians, and of course people from a diverse cultural background.

It will be really important and it's a huge opportunity for the government to also share with us into the future the breakdown of job creation that has occurred. So to be able to actually say to the public 50% of new roles have been created for women, 50% of the young people who have access to the apprenticeships and traineeships are women.

We've ensured that there's representation of other diverse groups in all of the different programs that have been supported in the budget. I think that will really help Australians to feel like it was a budget for all of us.

Peter Van Onselen: Julie McKay head of diversity, inclusion and wellbeing at PwC thanks so much for your time.

Julie McKay: Thank you very much Peter.

Peter Van Onselen: Thank you for listening to the PwC 2020 Federal Budget Podcast. We hope you enjoyed our commentary. For additional in-depth analysis head over to pwc.com.au/federalbudget where you will find articles and information about the 2020 Federal Budget and what it means for the economy, our society and you. This PwC 2020 Federal Budget podcast brings together experts to explore what the budget means for you and your business.

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