Compulsory reporting of pay gap data worth a conversation, National leader says

Christopher Luxon believes publicly reporting pay gap data is the right thing to do, and says making it compulsory for businesses is worth a conversation.

The National leader has not committed to a campaign policy on the matter, but said other policies indicated the party's direction on pay parity.

Luxon said when he was Air New Zealand chief executive he introduced pay gap reporting because he believed it was important.

"I voluntarily chose to do it, no one told me I had to do it, I just thought it was a good thing to do because I wanted to get pay parity in place," he said.

"Whether we need to do it in a compulsory way or whether it can be done voluntarily, we're up for that conversation, I'll let Nicola Grigg as the minister [for] women talk that through more."

He said his party's approach was clear, pointing to its campaign policy of expanding the government's KiwiSaver contribution to include people on parental leave.

"We're saying, 'hey listen, we know that's a very stressful time in your life when you're off work with a little one, and if you don't make your contributions, we will make them for you'," Luxon said.

"That's the right thing to do, because there is a lot of inequity that arises."

However, he was conscious compulsory reporting could be a big burden for smaller companies with few resources.

"That's what we'd have to be weighing up."

Last year, the government introduced a law that raised the threshold for proving work has been historically undervalued when making a pay equity claim.

The government said it would make the process of raising and resolving pay equity claims easier, while opponents said it would make it harder for women in female dominated industries to make a claim and took away their right to equal pay.