Gender reporting requirements for private organisations will be kept by the Abbott government, but will not be as ambitious as those planned under Julia Gillard.
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Under 2012 legislation passed by Labor, non-public sector employers with 100 or more employees are required to report to the government each against gender equality indicators.
The first round of data was released at the end of 2014, showing that the gender pay gap across all industries was 24.7 per cent, based on full-time remuneration. This leaps to as much as 45 per cent for managers.
There was concern last year that the Coalition would scrap the gender equity reporting as part of its drive to cut red tape. While the government committed to continuing the reporting, it spent the last half of 2014 consulting about the specific requirements.
As a result, Employment Minister Eric Abetz and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women Michaelia Cash announced on Wednesday that the government would cut additional requirements that were due to kick in on April 2015.
"Many found the reporting regime overly complex and time consuming and are not confident if will help them to improve gender equality," Senator Abetz said.
The scrapped requirements include reporting on CEO salaries, the pay of casual managers, the components of total remunerations, the numbers of job applications and interviews and requests and approvals for extended parental leave.
Employers will still have to report against six indicators, including the gender composition of its workforce and governing bodies, the remuneration of men and women and sexual harassment.
It comes as new Australian Bureau of Statistics data on average weekly earnings released on Wednesday showed an 18.8 per cent or $298.10 pay gap between men and women.
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency - which companies report to - described the news as "disappointing".
The new figures are based on data collected in November 2014. According to the agency, the national gender pay gap has increased 1.4 per cent since November 2013 when the gap was 17.4 per cent.
Women on Boards executive director Claire Braund described the gender reporting announcement as "quite good news," noting that the extras requirements that have been scrapped did not have a lot of meaning.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry also welcomed the scale-back, while calling for more changes.
"We will continue to advocate for further improvement so that businesses are not tied up in paperwork and can instead focus on equity in a way that is appropriate for their own operations," chief executive Kate Carnell said.
But the Greens said they was "firmly opposed" to the changes, arguing they would hamper transparency.
The party's spokesperson for women Larissa Waters said it would seek urgent discussions with the government to reverse the decision.
Ms Carnell said that there was a need to remove the requirement to report against non-manager categories – as wages here were mostly set by enterprise agreements and awards.
The government has set up a working group including both Ms Carnell and Ms Braund as well as experts such as Sex Discrimination Commission Elizabeth Broderick, to examine the future reporting standards for non-managers.
