For the first time, Australians can find out the gender pay gaps of well-known Commonwealth public sector employers including the ABC, Australia Post and the Australian Federal Police.
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) has today published the gender pays for 120 public sector employers and 2 corporate groups.
Generally, public sector employers have much lower gender pay gaps than employers in the private sector.
The new release of public sector employers follows WGEA’s publication of private sector employer gender pay gaps in February 2024 and March 2025. Commonwealth public sector employers report to a different timeline to the private sector, so this is the first time that WGEA is able to publish their information.
“Releasing public sector gender pay gaps for the first time today places a spotlight on these employers, like it has done in the private sector. This enhanced transparency and accountability is a catalyst for further action,” WGEA CEO Mary Wooldridge said.
The information is available on the Data Explorer on WGEA’s website and in the Commonwealth Public Sector Gender Equality Scorecard: Key employer results from 2023 report. It shows the gender pay gaps of employers such as Australia Post, the ATO, the Reserve Bank, CSIRO as well as dozens of other Federal Government departments, agencies and businesses.
Public sector gender pay gaps
The median total remuneration gender pay gaps of some key employers include the ABC (9.8 per cent), the Australian Postal Corporation (8.6 per cent) and the Australian Federal Police (12.2 per cent).
Some other employers like CSIRO have a median gender pay gap of 11.3 per cent, and the Reserve Bank of Australia has a gap of 11.5 per cent.
WGEA has not released the average gender pay gaps, or the average total remuneration per pay quartile, for Commonwealth public sector employers. This is because the 2023 gender pay gaps do not include CEO, Head of Business and Casual Manager remuneration.
The legislative changes require this additional information to be reported to WGEA for first time in 2025, relating to the 2024 reporting period. WGEA says they’ll use this information to calculate and release average gender pay gaps in 2026.
Some employers have also provided a link to an Employer Statement that gives context to their gender pay gap, what they are doing to understand what’s driving it and identifies the actions they are taking to further address it.
Gender pay gap trends
WGEA’s analysis of the results reveals there are lower pay gaps in Commonwealth public sector employers compared to private sector employers.
Nearly one in two public sector employers (45 per cent) have a median pay gap in target range of +/-5 per cent, compared to the private sector where 31 per cent have reached this.
More than half of public sector employers reduced their gender pay gap in the past 12 months, however, the Commonwealth public sector pay gap of 6.4 per cent means men earn, on average, $8,200 more than women each year.
WGEA’s analysis also shows the contributors to the gender pay gap, such as salary settings, discretionary payments and workforce composition, differ in Australia Public Service (APS) and non-APS employers. Half of the APS employers have pay gaps above 3.2 per cent, but this increases to 9.8 per cent for the cohort of non-APS employers. The non-APS result is also above the mid-point for the Australian private sector of 8.9 per cent.
Wooldridge said the data shows progress can be achieved when employers use long-term and deliberate actions that address gender equality.
“The Commonwealth public sector has achieved gender-balance in the composition of the workforce, at managerial level and in the upper quartile of remuneration. This is a critical driver of the lower gender pay gaps reported today,” Wooldridge said.
“Pleasingly we have also seen large rises in the number of employers conducting a gender pay gap analysis, acting on the results and consulting with employees to understand their experience at work.”
“These actions are crucial steps to help employers gain greater understanding of the drivers of their individual gender pay gaps and to implement relevant and evidence-informed actions to address them.”
Although the results point to progress, there’s still areas for improvement. Men account for only 11 per cent of all primary carers leave taken in the public sector, and 49 per cent of employers still have a gender pay gap in favour of men.
The data shows as well that employers could better prioritise consultation with employees on sexual harassment risks and mitigation.
Women are also more likely to work in lower-paid non-manager positions than men such as sales workers and administration, and women are under-represented in occupations considered more technical or manual.
When looking at the breakdown of time working, men are still more likely to work full-time than women, with 89 per cent of men working full-time compared to 76 per cent of women in the public sector, but the rates of full-time work in the sector are higher than in the private sector for both women and men.
“Although we are seeing positive results and progress, there’s still work to do,” Wooldridge said, noting that “workplace gender equality benefits everyone”, which is why barriers must be addressed.
“With changes in access to parental leave now enacted, Commonwealth public sector employers need to work deliberately and strategically to drive cultural change that removes real or perceived penalties for taking time out for caring roles and ensure more men have confidence to take primary carer’s leave,” she said.
“Commonwealth public sector employers should draw on WGEA’s results to compare their performance with the broader sector, assess areas of opportunity, and refine action plans to ensure their workplaces are fair and safe for all employees”