Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We all know women whose opportunities and contributions were limited because of the constraints placed around them in the time that they grew up in. For me, it's my grandmother, my ama. She was the most extraordinary woman, a widow and single mother of eight. What is even more remarkable about her story is she had to uproot her life twice, first from China to Laos and then from Laos to Australia. Because of the circumstances she grew up in, my ama had so few choices in life. She didn't get to choose a career. She didn't get to choose where to live. While her contributions in life were constrained, they were extraordinary. I am here because of her.

If my ama were alive today, I think she would have been astounded to see her granddaughter elected to our federal parliament, a feat made even more extraordinary by the fact that this is the first majority-female federal government in Australia's history. Of the 103 federal Labor parliamentarians 54 are female, and a record 10 cabinet ministers are female. This has not come about by accident. It was due to a decision by the Labor Party to introduce quotas. We see the fruits of that decision not just in the make-up our federal government; we see it in the policy decisions Labor governments have made.

It was during the Rudd-Gillard years when Labor governments introduced the country's first national plan to reduce violence against women and children and Australia's first government paid parental leave. It was the Paid Parental Leave scheme that my family directly benefited from when we had our son more than seven years ago. The first year of his life was really hard, with lots of things to feel anxious about. But we were really lucky because we didn't have to worry about our finances. That was, in large part, because of the paid parental leave schemes from my employer and the government. It meant I didn't have to rush back to work. I could make the choice to take a full year off to look after my son. It makes me so proud that I am now part of the Albanese Labor government that is improving that paid parental leave scheme. We are expanding it to 26 weeks by 2026, with four of those weeks reserved for the second parent to encourage both parents to participate in the care of their child. From 1 July 2025, superannuation will be paid on that leave.

This is on top of all the work we are doing to improve gender equality, including making child care more affordable, funding a 15 per cent pay rise for aged-care workers, introducing paid family and domestic violence leave, making gender equality an object of the Fair Work Act and legislating to improve transparency and reporting of the gender pay gap. I am proud to see our work is paying off. In 2021 on the World Economic Forum's global gender gap index Australia had slipped to number 50 in the world. We were sandwiched between Georgia and Suriname, a long way behind the United States, ranked 30, Canada, ranked 24, and the UK, ranked 23. I am so glad to see that with the changes from the Albanese Labor government we have seen significant improvement on gender equality. Australia has jumped to 26 on the global gender equality rankings. ABS data released in February this year showed the gender pay gap was at its lowest level on record under the Albanese Labor government, at 12 per cent. It's still too large, but it has fallen by 2.1 per cent since we came to government. That is the Labor legacy I get to be part of.

Labor women have come before me in our federal parliament. They pushed through important policy changes that had a direct impact on my life. They inspired me and helped pave the way for my own pathway into politics. What excites me most is the knowledge that Labor women will come after me, building on the legacy the first majority-female federal government has made. That is something that I feel exceptionally proud to be a part of and something I'm really looking forward to seeing: young women getting involved in politics because they can see there is an opportunity for them to make a difference, as those women who came before me did and as we are trying to do now.

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