Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is an important bill that I rise to speak on, the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (More Support for Working Families) Bill 2023. Paid parental leave is something that is really important and crucial for many families.

Like many in this House, I had the opportunity to benefit from paid parental leave, and that time at home with my children when they were born was very important and special for my wife and me. It's been a few years now since I was at home. They're growing up too quickly. But, just before Christmas, I was lucky enough to welcome a niece into the world, young Lotti, to my sister Michaela; my brother-in-law, Hugh; and young Noah. To see them together; get the memories of those early days, weeks and months together; and see Hugh be able to take advantage of paid parental leave and be at home to support my sister and spend time with his children is another reminder of how valuable this leave is to families and how important it is in a modern society. No doubt, the world had changed a lot for the better in this regard, and there's more that we need to do to ensure that paid parental leave meets the needs of a modern Australia.

As many have said, it was introduced in 2011, so it's been around for quite a long time now. These reforms to the act will move paid parental leave away from the previous 12-week period of paid parental leave, six weeks of flexible paid parental leave and two weeks of dad and partner pay.

I've shared a little bit about my experience, but it's a reality for many Australians. The ABS showed that, in 2022-23, there were 171,280 parental leave pay claims and 88,645 dad and partner pay claims. So it's making a significant impact for many people.

In March 2023, the scheme was amended to combine the PLP and the DAPP, forming a single payment of 20 weeks that can be shared between parents to give maximum flexibility. The notion of primary, secondary and tertiary claimants was also removed, and it allowed fathers and partners to claim parental leave pay without requiring birth mothers to make a claim. It's increased flexibility and it has led families into a better situation. They were changes that the coalition supported, and it's an example of how, yes, there is a robust nature in this House, but there are many policies that we agree on, and this was another one that the coalition supported and agreed on. I'm proud to be part of a team that did support that to allow flexibility to those that needed it.

The coalition also have a strong record in this space. In March of 2022, as part of the women's budget statement, the coalition underlined its commitment to paid parental leave by announcing enhanced paid parental leave. The enhanced leave was an investment of $346.1 million over five years to expand paid parental leave, giving working families full choice and control over how they use their 20 weeks. As I said, that's why the coalition is supporting this bill, because, on the face of it, it's very similar to our longstanding paid parental leave policy.

The amendments in this bill are the second tranche of PPL reforms by the government and are extending the scheme by two weeks each year to reach 26 weeks by 2026. However, we will be moving a second reading amendment calling on the government to amend the Paid Parental Leave Act to require the secretary, as defined by the act, to pay paid parental leave instalments directly to employees of small businesses, except in cases where a small business opts to pay PLP instalments directly to the employee. This is a really important amendment and something that is going to benefit the employees who receive the payments, making sure they get paid the right amount on time, as well as employers who have to make these payments.

The reason we need this to happen through Services Australia is we need to recognise the reality of many small businesses in our country. I want to share one story from my career. I worked at a fantastic company called Yarra Valley Snack Foods. I was there for seven or eight years, and we grew from 7-11 employees when I started to more than 130 when I left the company—it was rapid growth. But the reality was the owners, Andrew and Christine, ran that business themselves at the start and as it grew. Christine was looking after payroll and many of the administrative roles that were required. She had no expertise or training in payroll, in HR, in finance or in making sure that these rules that came through from this House to small businesses were applied correctly. She was using her wit and her intelligence; she was reading and she was doing everything she could to make sure that she was getting the changes right. No doubt there was times she might not have understood the legislation or might have inadvertently made a mistake. That's the reality for small-business owners—they're the managers, they're the owners, they're the HR department and they're the finance department. In our organisation, the owner was also the warehouse manager on the forklift. They're juggling multiple hats and multiple responsibilities, so if we can make it easier for small businesses to apply these rules and changes and laws, it will be easier and it will ensure employees get what they need and get the money they need in a timely manner.

Now, the Paid Parental Leave scheme includes a mandatory employer role which requires employers to pay the government-funded parental leave pay to eligible long-term employees. Employers are required to provide only the PLP taken by their employees in a continuous block at the beginning of their entitlement, and Services Australia provides any PLP days taken outside of this block. The purpose of the employer role is to maintain the connection between employees on parental leave and their employers, which is crucial. But Services Australia provides the PLP payments to employers in advance of them providing the payments to their employee in accordance with the employee's normal pay cycle.

These changes to the Paid Parental Leave scheme disproportionately adversely impact small businesses, as I have explained previously regarding my time at Yarra Valley Snack Foods. They impose an additional red-tape burden on small businesses by making them the pay clerk for the government's Paid Parental Leave scheme. The government has long claimed that the purpose of the employer role is to maintain the connection between the employees on parental leave and their employers. The government has provided little evidence to support these claims in practice where the small business needs to pay this money, and not Services Australia. In 2021-22, there were 31,377 employers that provided PLP to their employees—38 per cent were small businesses, defined as having fewer than 20 employees. Small businesses with no human resource department to rely on and drowning in red tape are ill-equipped to administer these payments.

As noted by the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman:

… in addition to their usual record-keeping requirements, employers that have employees receiving the Australian Government-funded parental leave pay must keep the following records:

These are seven requirements on husbands and wives and many small business owners with no experience in HR or finance. Records must be kept for seven years, with records readily accessible by a person exercising powers under part 4-2 of the act, with the employer providing the employee prescribed information under part 4 section 32 of the rules.

A survey conducted by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has found 88.02 per cent of small businesses overwhelmingly believe that PPL should be administered by Services Australia, with small businesses that have previously administered the payments nearly unanimous in their view that, if given the choice, they would prefer the payments to be administered by Services Australia rather than by the employer. ACCI's research also found that 90.7 per cent of small businesses who administered the payments reported an increased administrative burden and an increase to their payroll processing time. ACCI also found many small business employers administering leave payments reported no benefit to their relationships with their employees, because doing so does not actually involve or require proper communication.

As I said, this is not just about small business and trying to take red tape away from them, which is crucial and provides efficiency for them. It's also about making sure that the employees who need the money at that time receive it. I would hate for a small business to inadvertently not pay their employee and create a situation where young parents are put under more stress and more financial stress because of an inadvertent mistake by someone that doesn't have HR or finance training and is just trying to do their best.

Perversely, it creates the situation where the relationship between the employer and the employee could actually be severed, because, in a time of high stress as a new parent, that employee could take out an innocent mistake on their employer, and we all know, as new parents with not much sleep, that any little thing can add to your stress. So that's why it's important that we have Services Australia as an organisation supporting small businesses and supporting new mothers and fathers to receive their paid parental leave. I hope that the government will look at the amendment calling on these changes, as I said, to avoid some of these potential consequences.

But, as we talk about paid parental leave, I also want to talk about the Multiple Birth Association, which is a significant organisation. Many parents have multiple births, and I recently met with Sarah Lavis, the president of the Eastern Area Multiple Birth Association, along with several local parents, to discuss paid parental leave for multiple-birth families. Multiple births can put significant financial pressure on families, due to the additional costs associated with multiples and the challenges of incurring many child-specific costs concurrently. Studies have shown that the cost of having twins is nearly five times higher than the cost of having a singleton, and the cost of triplets is around 13 times higher than for a singleton.

The most recent reforms to PPL treat individuals the same way, regardless of whether families have multiples or singletons and regardless of prematurity. The parents of a singleton receive the same term of PPL as the parents of twins or triplets, who are also often born prematurely. Premature babies are frequently in NICU for an extended period of time, and many weeks of PPL can be used up during that time, with much less leave remaining, once babies are at home, for parents to be able to care for their newborns. Further consideration of the specific needs of families with multiples is necessary, to give parents of multiples the time needed to invest in the care that is vital during these crucial early stages.

Now, I wrote to the Minister for Finance about this issue almost six months ago and I'm still waiting for a response, but I hope that the minister does look at this, because it is an opportunity to further enhance the paid parental leave system. I'm very lucky to have, in my office, a parent of twins, so I see and hear from her about some of the challenges, but also the wonderful joy, of having twins. We should be looking to support these parents who are going through a very busy and stressful time financially and emotionally to make sure that they have every opportunity to bond with their children.

As I said, there is much in this bill that is good. It reflects the coalition policy and that is why we will support it. But I urge the government to look to support small businesses to keep that connection between employees and employers strong and to look at what else could be done to support parents with multiple births.

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