Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Oh, it is now temporary. This is a new development in the policy. The policy changes every minute. As the Leader of the Opposition said at the end of his remarks, this will not be the last word. He is just making changes as he goes along. It is a levy; it is a tax. Some people like the shadow minister, the member for Murray, say it is not even a tax or a levy; it is something to do with human capital. Goodness knows what she was thinking when she was asked that question. What everybody out there in Australia, and every business person, knows is that this is a new tax. It is already a broken promise from the Leader of the Opposition, who said that he would not introduce any new taxes. As he said to Neil Mitchell, ‘No, no, we will go to the election campaign, Neil, with a list of promises, a list of commitments, and we will fund them without new or increased taxes.’ Was this said 10 years ago or even one year ago? No, on 3 February 2010, the Leader of the Opposition said ‘No new taxes, no increased taxes’. Here we are just a month later with a massive new tax of $2.7 billion to be paid by companies, who will then pass it on to consumers.

In contrast to the ramble from the Leader of the Opposition, who basically cannot be believed on this issue of paid parental leave, what we have from the government is a very detailed and carefully worked out proposal. As I said in question time, when we came to government we asked the Productivity Commission to conduct a major inquiry into support for parents with newborn children and they delivered a very substantial piece of work. It was the result of a considerable number of consultations and submissions that they received from businesses, unions and many families who talked to them about the type of support that they wanted when they have their babies.

We announced that the government would commit itself to the first national paid parental leave scheme in this country, and we made the announcement in the budget. I gather that the Leader of the Opposition had a bit of trouble finding the reference to this in the budget. Just in case he is still having trouble finding the reference, the Leader of the Opposition might like to know that it was actually in Budget Paper No. 2, on page 236.

By contrast to those opposite, who think that they can just deliver a major policy in a few sheets of paper, we have based our policy on this very substantive piece of work that the Productivity Commission did for us. The shadow minister is maligning the Productivity Commission and does not seem to have actually read the recommendations of the Productivity Commission. Right at the front it says:

Key points

• The Australian Government’s statutory paid parental leave scheme should be taxpayer-funded, and should:

provide paid postnatal leave for a total of 18 weeks that can be shared by eligible parents, with an additional two weeks of paternity leave reserved for the father … who shares in the daily primary care of the child

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