I’ve always believed that in business, as in life in general, the best decisions are made when a range of voices are heard.

The diversity of input improves debate, raises the level of the conversation and the quality of our decision making. When I joined The Perth Mint in November 2023, I was keen to identify the talent in our senior leaders and was happy to find a strong representation of women there, all making a significant contribution.

Part of my focus is on healthy succession planning. We need to know where our next generation of leaders are, and it is important they are given every opportunity to succeed and progress. Equity means all our people are given the chance to achieve to the same level and sometimes that means giving extra attention and support where it is needed. Our flexible work options help considerably in this regard because I believe that offering people the option to work part-time or away from the office on a regular basis should not hinder career development.

I have the support of the Gold Corporation board in this regard. Our chair and directors recognise the benefits that flow from an equal representation of women in all levels of the organisation and that we need to work to facilitate this.

We have come a long way. As an organisation with a 125-year presence in Western Australia, we are very conscious of our history and how it has shaped where we are today.

Like many institutions of its kind, in its early decades, The Perth Mint was a boys’ club and it seemed implausible that any woman could break that golden ceiling.

In fact, it took 33 years after we opened for the Mint to actually employ a woman. Miss Kathleen Slade Hillman had the honour of being the first female employee in 1932. Kathleen was taken on as a temporary ‘girl typist’ but apparently proved her worth and soon became a permanent employee.

We look on that fact as a humorous curiosity now but it is a reminder that gender equality is an ongoing journey and we haven’t reached an endpoint yet.

As at 30 June 2024, 49% of The Perth Mint’s workforce were women. This is pleasingly high, especially in an organisation with a strong manufacturing profile.

We have a strong focus on the gender pay gap and I am pleased to see this reduce from 12.2% to 10% at the end of the 2023-24 financial year. I recognise that more work is needed to provide equity for our female employees but note that the Mint’s pay gap compares favourably with Western Australia’s gender gap of 21.7%, as reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in November 2023.

Of course, equity is more than simple statistics. I want to see women aspire to and achieve success at all levels of our organisation and am determined to do everything I can to enable everyone at the Mint to reach their full potential.