Kylea Tink (North Sydney, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the government's Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Improvements for Families and Gender Equality) Bill 2022. I welcome the government's goal of improving families' access to government payments, providing parents with more flexibility in how they take leave and encouraging them to share care. Improving and driving gender equity is vital to both the wellbeing of our society and the success of our economy. As a mother from North Sydney recently said to me: 'Being a full-time carer for a young child is such an undervalued role in society. It's an enormous undertaking to raise a healthy, happy, kind child with both parents working—which you both have to do when you live in Sydney.'

I am hugely supportive of an improved paid parental leave scheme in Australia, and I welcome these reforms. However, I think we can and must aim higher. I believe courage and long-term vision is what we should always strive for. Ultimately, 26 weeks should be set as a minimum length of paid parental leave, increasing to 52 weeks based on the Scandinavian shared-care model. On average, families in the OECD are typically entitled to over 50 weeks of paid leave; that's 2½ times more than what we offer here in Australia. In Finland, new parents each have access to seven months paid leave. Policies such as these have been linked with better development outcomes for children and support a more balanced division of labour between two-parent families.

I recently surveyed my electorate of North Sydney, and 75 per cent of respondents indicated to me that they felt the time they had off for paid parental leave was too short. We also know from international experience that the fastest way to address any gender gap is to introduce shared paid parental leave. As the Grattan Institute has noted in a recent report, greater sharing of child care is one of the best ways to improve women's economic security.

In the existing paid parental leave scheme, 18 of the 20 weeks are allocated to the primary carer whilst the remaining two weeks are allocated to dad and partner pay. Reflecting on that for a moment, the mere fact this pay is being referred to as 'dad' or 'partner' pay immediately relegates the father or the second parent in a parenting situation to the lesser of the two carers. The North Sydney community has told me it's a great idea to let families decide how to use the available support in a way that works best for them. It's about enabling choice—a choice for families to determine what is best for them.

In addition to shared care improving the choices for individual family units, it also has a broader societal impact. As a constituent so eloquently put it: 'I think sharing it is critical. Men need greater incentives to pause their careers, even if only for a few weeks. And women need to be free of the patriarchal assumption that they're better at the at-home piece and less likely to be able to support the family financially. Families who genuinely want to share the parenting load need shared leave.'

One glaring gap remains in these reforms. The Paid Parental Leave scheme does not attract the superannuation guarantee. In combination with the current Australian gender pay gap of 19 per cent on average and the fact that mothers usually return to work part-time after having children, this is one of the major factors contributing to the current situation where Australian women retire with 47 per cent less super than men, on average. Their accumulation of superannuation savings is interrupted while being on paid parental leave, which is commonly then extended by several months of unpaid parental leave. This is exacerbated on return to work with women commonly re-joining the workforce on a part-time basis after their parental leave. The inequality that occurs during parental leave follows the primary carer, usually the woman, throughout her career into her retirement, creating significant inequalities in retirement incomes. One hundred per cent of the North Sydney constituents who I heard from indicated that they would like to see superannuation payments added onto paid parental leave payments. This bill is a missed opportunity in that regard, and I hope to see the government progress this soon.

Along with paid parental leave improvements, we need to ensure that families have access to quality and affordable care and education to allow those who wish or need to return to work to do so. This means the provision of not only affordable but also accessible early childhood education. It's clear that the families in North Sydney face hardship when it comes to child care and returning to work. One constituent shared with me: 'I've been on a waiting list since my son was four months old. I've been waiting for that day care spot. We have decided to use a nanny, use family and have split-days off. My son is nearly one, and it's been financially challenging, especially as we've also been trying to buy a home in Sydney.' The reality is parental leave policy settings have a significant and wide-ranging impact on families, children, women, the economy and, ultimately, society as a whole. In the words of one of my constituents: 'We need to fix this. It's an essential gender equity issue.' I couldn't agree more.

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