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

I acknowledge the significant contribution from the member for McPherson today. I can only imagine the discussions and debates that are happening in your party room around this issue. I think it's important that, given your extensive experience in male-dominated work places, you are such a strong voice not only in this place but also outside of here on the importance of greater female representation. I applaud you and I hope that, for the sake of our parliament, the arguments you make are persuasive to your party.

We are here to celebrate 30 years of affirmative action in the Labor Party. I know that it was a hotly contested debate and I can't imagine how difficult some of those discussions would have been for the women who have come before me. To the member for McPherson, I hope you keep having those discussions, because I imagine that the path that you pave in your party room will help women who come after you, as they have helped me within the Labor Party. I have no doubt that me being a federal member of parliament, representing the Labor Party, was only possible because of the women who were brave enough to be part of those discussions more than 30 years ago. It is because of them that the party truly recognises the important role that women have to play as elected representatives. I am indebted to them and really grateful that we have this opportunity to celebrate the amazing work that they have done and the achievements that have come after them.

The biggest achievement is one that I get to be part of, and that is a majority female federal government, the first in our country's history. That I get to be part of that brings me such joy, and it's something that I will truly treasure. When I look around the benches here, I see that I am surrounded by some incredible female members of this caucus. It is amazing what has been achieved as a result of having the first majority female federal government. For us, on this side of the House, it's not enough to have more women in this place; it's about what we then do with that. It has been extraordinary to see the incredible strides that we have been able to take on the point of gender equality.

I just want to look at one policy issue in particular, and that is around the government paid parental leave scheme. This scheme was introduced more than a decade ago by a Labor government, and it has taken a Labor government to improve that scheme. I benefited from the first government paid parental leave scheme when I had my son eight years ago, and it's with great pride that I now am in a government that is helping to improve that paid parental leave scheme. We are increasing it to 26 weeks by 2026. Importantly, there is a provision in there where we have set aside a portion of that paid parental leave scheme to be used by the other parent, to really encourage fathers to step up and take a greater parenting role. That's the point of having more female representatives—it is not just good for women; it is good for our society.

There are big societal shifts that are happening, and I think good governments reflect what is happening in society. I want to give you one example of that. On International Women's Day this year I went to a construction company in my electorate; they had invited me to speak there. I talked about the fact that we have this newly improved paid parental leave scheme. A man put his hand up and said, 'When my daughter was born, I took an entire year off to look after her, and it was the best year of my life.' So these shifts in society are happening. Good governments reflect that change, and that's exactly what we're doing.

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