Deborah O'Neill (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am delighted to have the opportunity to address this very urgent matter. We do understand the urgency of these MPI debates, and nothing could be more urgent at this time given what has become known to the Australian public in the last 24 hours about the state of disarray in the coalition on this issue of vital importance to all Australian families. Paid parental leave is something women like me—I have a 20-, an 18- and a 15-year-old—could once only dream about having. I always knew that such a policy would only ever be delivered by Labor, and it is Labor which has, in fact, delivered that policy. We have got it done.

In contrast, on the other side there has been a rapid-fire discussion over the last 24 hours. At a party meeting convened in this very place, the member for McMillan made it very clear to his own party that not only should they rethink their proposed paid parental leave program; they should actually ditch it. They are starting to figure out that, because they have this massive $70 billion hole, they might have to throw overboard a few services which are vital to the Australian people. The member for McMillan is on the record in the Australian today saying that we should not have a paid parental leave scheme. But he is not the only one in the Liberal Party who has some concerns. For those opposite, this whole paid parental leave scheme issue is just an aspiration. It has been discussed ad nauseam.

The Leader of the Opposition was practically friendless in his own party yesterday in saying that he is still committed to their paid parental leave scheme—a scheme which would pay up to $75,000 for some people in our community. It is an excessive amount of money to give to a woman who is going to take parental leave and stay at home. Despite his great promise, the reality is he does not have any funding to properly deliver that. We have a Richie Rich parental leave plan from those opposite which was derided in the Liberal Party policy room yesterday, and the reality is they really have no plans to deliver it.

Consequently, the MPI for today is this urgent discussion to make sure that parents who are thinking about adopting a child today or parents who are heading to a maternity ward today or sometime in the near future have the reassurance of this debate in this place today and are reminded that it is the Labor government that have actually delivered this for Australian women.

The facts are that we have, as the minister put on the record today in question time, 140,000 families who have already made application for the Paid Parental Leave Scheme, and 80,000 of those have already received payments as a part of this scheme. That is quite a difference from the pie in the sky, still to be funded, perhaps to be delivered, perhaps not to be delivered offers that we are getting from the other side. The confusion over there actually reveals their very different values compared with us on this side of the chamber. Not only have we decided; we have delivered for Australian families the type of care that they have needed for a very, very long time.

Let us see what our Paid Parental Leave Scheme actually does. It offers families a lot more choice in balancing their care and working arrangements, following the birth or adoption of a child. Many Australian families rely on both incomes. Our economy is going along very strongly and we need a massive level of participation by our own people. As families make this great decision to bring a new Australian into the world and to begin their journey of family parenting, they need real, practical financial support.

We understand that, before the Paid Parental Leave Scheme started, more than 85 per cent of families were eligible for both the paid parental leave and the baby bonus, and that they would really benefit from having paid parental leave. We know from the stories alluded to today by Minister Macklin, the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, that numbers of families are writing in to just describe what has happened to them as a result of this significant Labor reform. One such message:

Dear Prime Minister

I just wanted to write and express my deepest thanks for having been eligible to be paid the new parental leave. If I had not I would already be back at work by now and would have missed so much of my baby daughter's development. Also, because my mother looks after my children while I am at work and has had these six months not having to, she has been able to go to TAFE and become qualified as an AIN and can now enter the workforce after 26 years of unemployment. I am also grateful for having received the baby bonus with my first child but I believe that it has sent the wrong message to parents and women, and we need this new paid parental leave scheme.

Another letter from a very grateful recipient of the Paid Parental Leave Scheme—which is in place because Labor has delivered, Labor has got the job done and made sure that women like this have been able to benefit and manage their working and their family lives from the beginning much more healthily—states:

A big thankyou for the paid parental leave scheme. It is almost halfway through my baby's first year. She is absolutely thriving. Spending her first year full time with her adoring mum has really helped her develop socially, emotionally and physically. She is confident. She is happy, curious and strong. I probably would have had to return to work as a teacher earlier if it was not for the paid parental leave.

This scheme, a Labor scheme, has had such a positive investment in the next generation. That is the story we are seeing with our reforms over and over in his House. The Australian Labor Party, here on the government benches, are making sure that we are delivering the things for ordinary working families that enhance their lives and make the most significant difference.

We know that women have struggled for decades campaigning for paid parental leave and now they have the certainty and not these off-again on-again promises and policies of the opposition that really leave women wondering whether they might be eligible and whether it will be funded. It is absolutely critical that the difference between these two parties is very well drawn.

Our Paid Parental Leave Scheme is changing the lives of ordinary Australians, but it is not the only thing that is changing the lives of ordinary Australians in terms of our significant reform. One of the critical things that is also affecting our families and impacting very positively on their lives are the changes that we are making to the other elements that impact on families, such as family tax benefit. This one has been very popular with families in my electorate. Children are with us for a long time, not just when we need a paid parental leave scheme at the beginning of their lives but all the way through to when they finish school. This Labor government have supported families and increased the family tax benefit A by up to $4,200 for each teenager aged 16 to 19 who remains in school or further study. This is another critical support. Those opposite have no proposed increase. So the contrast is absolutely stark.

In terms of the age pension, again, Labor are supporting families. Since September 2009, we have undertaken absolutely historic reforms that have delivered an extra $148 per fortnight for singles and around $146 per fortnight per member of a couple, and we are delivering an extra $338 and $510 a year under our new carbon pricing scheme. In terms of small business tax deductions, we are making a difference to families as well. Many families are small businesses and we know that they need our assistance as well. So the $6,500 instant asset write-off is another thing that helps families manage their income.

Finally, there is the education tax refund. It is great to have the babies. It is wonderful to stay at home with them. It is fantastic to manage your finances and balance the books as you do that—unlike those opposite, with their $70 billion hole, who cannot possibly give Australian families the essential services that I have been talking about and the essential services that we need. Families can now claim up to 50 per cent of the costs of $409 per year for each child in primary school and up to $818 for each child in secondary school. I know that the people in my electorate are very pleased to receive a little envelope indicating all the things that we are making tax deductive for them, including school uniforms. So, in terms of Labor policy, we are looking at the moment when families have children, when they begin that lifelong journey of looking after the own families, and we support them in that great work they are doing—not just for their families but for our whole community.

But that is not the only change we are making in terms of significant reforms. I want to speak for a moment about the change to carbon pricing and how significant a change that has been in a seat such as mine. Yesterday I was able to put on the record—and I would like to do that here in the main chamber today—the fact that one of our local companies in the seat of Robertson, Licella, has been engaged in improving its technology. It was funded with $2 million start-up funding to support the changes that they were making, and on 14 December last year Minister Ferguson and I went up to Somersby to the opening of the company's new biofuels commercial demonstration facility. This change would not have been possible without the investment of our funding, to make sure that the reforms that this country needs are actually supported. The company's new biofuels commercial demonstration facility was a fantastic sight to see, and the reality is that four new commercial agreements have been signed and it is all based on this new technology that was supported by government funding. We need to support reforms, and the sorts of reforms that we make can not only impact on families but on businesses. It is groundbreaking work that we are doing. The type of change we have seen at Licella could not have happened without the investment of the Gillard government through our clean energy future package.

The area of education is critical as well. We can see those sorts of reforms that are happening that bring about the nature of changes that we believe are possible as a Labor government. Our trades training centres are absolutely vital in giving students in 927 schools across Australia the chance to actually stay at school, do their study in a community they know and be able to then go into the sort of work that they want to do. In terms of skills, we have invested $11.1 billion. These are lighthouse projects that are actually going to make a fantastic difference to Australian families.

The reality is that, with all of these elements I have been speaking about, there is a clarity of purpose for Labor. We believe in Australian families. We believe in supporting Australian families who are at work. We are getting on with the big reforms to which I have generally alluded today. We are delivering reforms for ordinary working people. We are managing the economy to help those working people and their families. We are managing the economy so we can build a nation for the future. And we are helping ordinary Australians manage the economy of their family budgets by providing paid parental leave in historic reforms that we are not still talking about, we are not still squabbling about; we have actually agreed to them and delivered them.

Tony Abbott clearly wants to take this nation backwards, and there is no way we could see that more clearly than through the argument we have seen in the last couple of days about paid parental leave. His is a coalition of the 'noalition'. They are still saying no to vital things that Australia needs and, every time we put reform before them in this House, they continue to deny Australians the opportunities that will help us move forward together—not some Australians, as they would have benefit, with $75,000 in paid parental leave supported by those who are earning $20,000. Not that sort of a change but a change that takes all Australians fairly into the future together. Whatever the question is, Tony Abbott is saying no. He is saying no to the future of a paid parental leave scheme that is realistic and deliverable. Stick with Labor, because we are the ones who get the job done.

Yesterday we saw the member for Moncrieff making the point that, when they have policy discussions on the other side of the House, they are finding that there is not enough fact and evidence to be able to advance anything in a practical way. The member for Moncrieff has said, 'I don't think I'm letting the cat out of the bag to say that people feel we are not being proactive enough in terms of outlining the policies that we would bring into government'. It is absolutely clear that, even while the Leader of the Opposition argues he has an aspiration to bring in paid parental leave, he has no capacity to do it. He does not have the support of the people behind him and he does not have the money—because he has a $70 billion black hole to clear before he can even start any sort of reform that we are already delivering. (Time expired)

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