Labor is vowing to put more women into senior public positions and deliver “measurable action” on pay equity, signalling it is open to setting pay targets in government and changing the workplace relations system if needed to get results.

Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek will outline the new targets today in an ambitious gender equality strategy which repudiates critics who claim that targets and quotas do not work.

A key part of the new policy document, seen by Fairfax Media, makes it clear that gender equality will help guide all Labor appointments to the judiciary, government boards and the senior ranks of the public service.

Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

It also says a Labor government would need to “make sure our industrial relations system is equipped to address pay inequity” and would work with employers to eliminate pay discrimination.