What is the review?
The Gender Equality Act 2020 (Act) requires the Minister for Women and Gender Equality to cause a review of the first four years of the Act’s operation.
Independent consultant Cube Group (Cube) conducted the review. The review looked at:
- how effectively the Act is contributing to gender equality
- whether the Public Sector Gender Equality Commissioner (commissioner) is implementing the Act as intended.
What did the review find?
The review found that:
- the Act is effectively contributing to gender equality
- the commissioner is implementing the Act as intended.
The Statutory review of the Gender Equality Act 2020 Final report (Cube report) made 5 recommendations to further improve how the Act operates.
The Cube report was tabled in Parliament on 27 August 2026. This is a requirement under section 52 of the Act.
You can find a link to the report below.
What is the government’s response?
The government supports one recommendation in full and four recommendations in part.
The government response to the recommendations is set out below.
The commissioner also made recommendations as part of the review.
These recommendations:
- include technical changes to clarify and streamline current practices
- align with the proposed high-level recommendations presented in the Cube report.
The government has also considered these recommendations as part of its response. Some of these recommendations will require changes to the Act.
The commissioner was consulted to develop this government response.
The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (department) and the commissioner will work together to implement the recommendations supported by the government.
Acknowledgement
The Government would like to thank Cube for all their work in preparing the statutory review.
Review and government response
Statutory review of the Gender Equality Act 2020 - Final report 31 October 2025 (PDF)
Updated