In March 2025, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) published the average and median gender pay gap for base salary and total remuneration for all organisations with 100 or more employees.
Organisations can provide an employer statement on the work they are doing to create a gender equal environment for all their employees. Our statement follows.
Melbourne Primary Care Network (MPCN) operates North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network. MPCN is dedicated to advancing gender equality in accordance with the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012.
In our ongoing efforts to foster gender equality within our workplace, we have recently implemented some new terms within our enterprise agreement and updated policies to support this commitment:
- Equalised primary and secondary paid parental leave and increased from 10 to 13 weeks
- Staff members on unpaid parental leave will receive superannuation payments for a period of up to 6 months
- In addition to personal leave of 10 days, staff have access to 6 days of ‘Life Leave’ (non-pro-rata) for staff members to use for any reason
- Increased purchased leave flexibility
- Breastfeeding policy and accreditation from the Australian Breastfeeding Association
- Working from home policy and other flexible working arrangements
- Updated sexual harassment policy
- Right to Disconnect policy
We are also committed to providing equal opportunities for professional growth and advancement. Our hiring, promotion, and professional development processes are designed to be transparent, unbiased, and merit-based, ensuring that talent and capability are the only criteria for success.
MPCN acknowledges that even with these efforts, its 2024 record on the WGEA website will show an average total remuneration gender pay gap of 19.4 per cent, and a median total remuneration gender pay gap of 14.4 per cent between males and females.
MPCN considers candidates of all genders for its roles. However, the majority of its staff are female.
Historically, female employee numbers have been greater than or equal to those for males at all levels of the organisation. MPCN strongly supports women participating in the workforce, however at any point in time there are significantly more females than males across our first three salary levels, therefore affecting the average and median results.
There is no significant difference in remuneration between male and female staff at any salary level.
It is also important to note that the 2023-2024 reporting period was the first time where CEO remuneration was included when calculating an organisation’s gender pay gap.
However, we note that MPCN’s gender pay gap is less than the national average of 21.8 per cent, as estimated by the WGEA.
Recent initiatives aim to support working parents, create an environment free of discrimination and harassment and provide equal employment opportunities. MPCN will continue to support ongoing action to achieve our goal of reducing our gender pay gap.
