Tim PALLAS (Werribee – Treasurer, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Economic Growth) (10:06):

I was very pleased to join local construction workers at Ison Road in Werribee last week to celebrate the launch of Victoria’s Building Equitable Futures Strategy. The Allan Labor government is building a new road overpass bridge across the Melbourne–Geelong railway line at Ison Road, extending the road south towards Browns Road to provide a vital link to the developing residential areas of Wyndham West and to the Princes Freeway from Melbourne and Geelong and removing another level crossing from metro Melbourne.

I was joined by women working on that site in engineering, design, environmental sciences, labouring and project management, including a young builders apprentice. This project is setting a high standard, with over 30 per cent women working onsite. These are numbers we want to see replicated across the industry. At the moment the number of women working in civil construction sites sits at around the 14 per cent mark, but onsite the number is closer to 2 per cent. We are committed to achieving gender equality in the workplace, and we are making progress in many ways. However, we are not there yet in construction, an industry that many women have felt uncomfortable entering or in which they have experienced such a poor workplace culture that they do not want to stay. The Allan Labor government is building a Victoria for the future, one where all Victorians benefit from these fantastic projects and have the opportunity to work in the jobs that will get us there.