Bridging the gender pay gap: What it means for us at Alinta Energy

When you think about the gender pay gap, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was just about men and women getting paid the same for the same job. Simple, right? Actually, it’s a lot more complex than that.

With WGEA (Workplace Gender Equality Agency) releasing employer pay gap data again today, now’s a good time to talk about what it actually means and what we’re doing at Alinta Energy to make sure we’re on the right track.

What's the gender pay gap?

The gender pay gap isn’t about people getting paid differently for doing the same job (that’s equal pay, and that’s been law in Australia since 1969). Instead, it’s about the overall difference in earnings between men and women across a company, an industry, or even a whole country.

And that difference? It’s not a reflection of women's work ethic but rather a consequence of systemic factors such as underrepresentation in leadership roles, undervaluation of traditionally female-dominated industries, and the disproportionate burden of unpaid care responsibilities borne by women. These things all add up over time, and that’s what we need to change.

Why is WGEA publishing our pay gap data?

Transparency drives change. When WGEA started releasing employer-specific gender pay gaps in 2024, it was about shining a light on the reality of workplace equality. And now, in 2025, the data will be even more detailed, including CEO salaries and casual managers. That means comparisons to last year’s data won’t be apples-to-apples, but the bigger picture remains–we need to keep moving towards gender equity.

What does this mean for Alinta Energy?

Like many companies, we have work to do. We recognise that our gender pay gap is not a matter of unequal pay for the same job but rather a reflection of broader structural challenges within our industry. We track and analyse our gender pay gaps to identify the underlying drivers and implement effective strategies to address them.

Some of the key factors contributing to our gender pay gap include:

• The underrepresentation of women in senior roles, which we are actively addressing
• More women working part-time, which affects total earnings over time
• The types of roles men and women hold—traditionally, higher-paying roles in energy have been male-dominated

What are we doing about it?

Fixing the gender pay gap goes beyond salary adjustments, we also need to remove barriers and create opportunities. Here’s what we’re focused on:

• Striving for 40:40:20 representation—our goal is 40% men, 40% women, and 20% of any gender at all levels of our business
• Enhancing leadership pathways through development and mentoring programs to support women's career progression
• Utilising benchmarking and transparency to track our progress and identify areas for improvement

Why this matters for all of us

The gender pay gap isn’t just a ‘women’s issue’—it’s a workplace and societal issue. More diverse teams perform better, make better decisions, and create better workplaces. When we close the gender pay gap, we’re not just making things fairer—we’re making our business stronger.

This conversation isn’t going away, and neither is our commitment to doing better. We’ll keep sharing updates, and we encourage you to ask questions, get involved, and be part of the change.

Because at the end of the day, building a more equal workplace benefits all of us.