Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of this Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Flexibility Measures) Bill 2020 and in support of the amendment moved by my esteemed colleague, the shadow minister, the member for Barton. I don't propose to give a history lesson to the House but I do think it is fascinating the way the nature of Australian society has changed over the generations. I know that neither of my grandmothers worked after they were married. My mother, who was a teacher, stopped working when she had her first child. My mother-in-law, my wife's mother, was one of the rare breed in her generation who worked full time—as a very esteemed nurse in my electorate—all her working life, including when she was raising three children with her husband, who was a farmer. The nature of Australia and Australian society has changed.

Labor has always been there supporting families throughout all of those generations. As many would recall, Australia's national Paid Parental Leave scheme was first introduced by Labor, commencing January 2011. That was in response to the changing nature of Australian families and Australian society. At that time, Australia was one of just two OECD nations without such a scheme, alongside the United States of America. We sought to fix that in government, creating a scheme that would provide growing families and primary caregivers with financial support upon the arrival of a newborn or newly adopted child.

For many families within my community of Macarthur, this scheme was absolutely groundbreaking and provided them with the financial security and stability they needed in times of great change. I believe and have remarked on many occasions that there's nothing more rewarding than raising a child. However, I know that this period of time can be quite challenging and daunting for new parents in terms of the way their families change, in terms of social circumstances and in terms of finances. In particular, the stresses of parenthood are exacerbated in times of financial insecurity. With more and more people living paycheque to paycheque, and with wages growth stagnating, I'm certain that the scheme provides great comfort to many families across the nation, and certainly in particular to those in my electorate of Macarthur.

This national scheme introduced originally by Labor was groundbreaking in the sense that it provided Australian mums and dads with certainty. It allowed the primary caregivers of newborns and newly adopted children to take time off work to spend with their child. It enhanced the health and development of birth mothers and children. It enabled women to continue to participate in the workforce, and promoted this participation, and fostered equality between males and females. Certainly in my own profession of paediatrics I could see how important gender equality was in retaining the skills of my many female colleagues who were raising families. It has been great. This scheme provided many young families with the ability to balance work and family life, providing two payments: paid parental leave and dad and partner pay.

The scheme created by the former Labor government signalled to employers in the broader community that it was normal and part of life for parents and primary caregivers to take time out of work to share the care of a child, and nothing could be more important than that. It provided for a shift in some attitudes in our nation, signifying to new parents that their careers and professional prospects would not and should not have to be sacrificed in order to raise a child. If you wanted to do both, the government would be supportive of this aspiration. I think it's a general view across the House that these aspirations should be supported, that the care of a child should be the responsibility of both parents. Labor's scheme promoted the participation of women in the workforce and enabled our workforce and our economy to prepare to adapt for an ageing population, for which a high workforce participation rate is essential. That's certainly true today and will be more important in the future as our population ages.

The Paid Parental Leave scheme also sought to improve the gender pay gap, particularly for those women who live on low to middle incomes and who tend to have less access to employer funded parental leave. While it is true that many Macarthur residents have benefited from this scheme, the same can be said for those in many other communities across Australia, with around 150,000 parents benefiting from Labor's Paid Parental Leave scheme each year. It's also important that this scheme should apply to those who have stillbirths. Nothing could be more distressing for families than suffering a stillbirth. The fact that this scheme can be applied or should apply to parents who have lost a child to stillbirth, and also to those who've had a neonatal death, is very, very important. This is a very important part of their coming to terms with and coping with such a traumatic event, one which affects the whole family. So this scheme is very important for all those families.

Nearly half of all the benefits from our national Paid Parental Leave scheme benefit young mothers. The bill before us today seeks to amend the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010, further building on amendments made in 2019 as well as introducing elements from the women's economic security package as announced in the 2018-19 MYEFO. It's very important that we will need to continue to adjust this scheme in future, as our society changes.

I want to acknowledge the contribution in this field made by the former member for Higgins and the minister—amongst many other roles—for women, Kelly O'Dwyer, because she was certainly a primary driver of this, and recognised the importance of using skills across the community throughout our workforce, and the importance of the scheme in allowing women to do that. This bill implements many changes announced by her and the government through the women's economic security statement.

The bill before us seeks to improve upon the Paid Parental Leave scheme's flexibility—and flexibility is certainly what we need. Many families are involved in very flexible lifestyles. My own family certainly has benefited by it. My grandchildren have benefited by it, as have my children, and I can see benefits for the future for them in this as their lives continue.

This bill will amend the Paid Parental Leave rules through splitting the 18 weeks of paid parental leave into a 12-week paid parental leave period and a six-week flexible paid parental leave period. Under these amendments, the 12-week paid parental leave period entitlement will not only be available as a continuous block but will be accessible by the primary carer at any time during the first 12 months, not only immediately after the birth or adoption of a child or a stillbirth.

Additionally, the six-week flexible paid parental leave period will be available at any time during the first two years and does not need to be taken as a single block. This is certainly very important for mothers who are involved in flexible work or who are still also studying and who are working part-time.

In short, the amendments will provide young and growing families with flexibility, providing mothers and fathers with the ability to split their paid parental leave entitlements into separate units of time, allowing for leave to be taken over a two-year period or the period of work in between the blocks. Under present arrangements, the paid parental leave accessed through our national scheme must be taken as a continuous block of 18 weeks, to be taken within the first 12 months after the birth or adoption of a child. So these new amendments are very important for the flexibility of work for many families. As we know, many families work in very flexible periods, often in different areas around the country or even overseas. So, importantly, not only will parents be able to split their entitlements over this two-year period under the amendment before us, but parents will be able to alter who the primary caregiver of the child is during this period. We know that, in many families, the primary caregiver varies between husband and wife, according to their circumstances. It is anticipated that this will encourage parents to use this increased flexibility by returning to work part-time and giving their skills back to our economy and by spreading their flexible paid parental leave out over a period of months.

I want to reiterate my and Labor's support for these amendments and the flexibility that they will provide for young families. I would stress that Labor understands about the needs of families and will continue to support young families in the future.

These changes are relatively modest, compared to some of the schemes provided overseas. They will hopefully enable Australian parents to share parenting and work responsibilities in a way that is deemed suitable to themselves. This flexibility will benefit many families who seek greater flexibility in our Paid Parental Leave scheme. However, while there are certainly positive aspects to these changes, it's important we note the bill does not increase the paid parental leave entitlements for Australian families. While there is more flexibility, there's no increase in entitlement. The reality is that Australia is falling behind internationally in the support it provides for new parents and for growing families. This bill does very little to change that.

Over the Christmas break, I was fortunate enough to spend time with my daughter, my son-in-law and my latest grandchild, Frankie, who came to visit my family from Germany.

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