Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I'll take that interjection. The member opposite did not support enhanced paid parental leave after the 2013 election. There will be a number of new Labor members who we can't blame, but we can certainly blame that member for not listening to the will of the people at the time. Well, we'll do something different. We will not stand in the way of sensible changes to paid parental leave for the sake of being different to the government when in opposition. That's what Labor did in opposition. We won't do it. We will support these very sensible changes, many of which are coalition changes. We'll be very happy to see where the government wants to take paid parental leave. Hopefully, in providing this bipartisan support for these changes, those members opposite, who very shamelessly and shamefully opposed our paid parental leave proposals after the 2013 election, will reflect on that. Sometimes, what's in the best interests of the country and in the best interests of families, even if they're not in your political interests, is worth supporting. We're here to support good things for Australian families. That's what we're doing. Coming into 2023, the government seem to have forgotten about many of the pressures and struggles that Australian families are suffering and are not wanting to engage or talk much about those pressures. But we're very happy to support this bill, and we commend the government for adopting a number of measures that were announced by the former government.

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