Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

This Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Adding Superannuation for a More Secure Retirement) Bill 2024 will add a superannuation contribution to the Commonwealth funded Paid Parental Leave scheme. It's a very welcome change. It's a change which is long overdue, and it's a change which has been called for repeatedly by peak bodies.

Until this bill is passed by both houses, paid parental leave will be the only form of paid leave in this country which does not come with superannuation. This has, for a long time, been an injustice and an anomaly. I'm very proud to have pushed the government on this issue, even before I was elected to this place, and I'm very happy to see it executed at this time.

At the last federal election, many Australians expressed their real frustration at the treatment of women in this country. They did that with their vote. I applaud and thank them for doing so. I ask them to continue to do so, and I assure them that, with this and with other similar legislation, I and my colleagues will continue to work towards greater gender equity in Australian workplaces and in Australian homes.

This amendment will see paid parental leave recipients receive the paid parental leave superannuation contribution for children born on or after 1 July 2025. It includes both a core and a nominal interest component. It also makes a minor change to the Fair Work Act to enable parents to have flexibility over their parental leave periods, with an option for days back in the office in which they can keep in touch with their workplace. The payment of superannuation on Commonwealth funded paid parental leave recognises the incredibly important contribution that all parents make to society. It will reduce the impact of career breaks to care for young children on the superannuation balances of the carers. It will help to improve equity in the superannuation system, both between men and women and between those in differing workplaces.

It is worth remembering that this bill applies only to Commonwealth workplaces, which have until now lagged significantly behind public industry. In 2022-23, according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, 86 per cent of employers offered paid parental leave and also paid superannuation to parents while on paid leave. That included 13 per cent who continued to pay super even on unpaid leave. In contrast, more than 99 per cent of parents accessing the government's paid parental leave scheme are women, and they have not previously received the same level of support as that available to those in the private sector. Industry Super has reported that 1.5 million women have missed out on $1.6 billion in super over the last 10 years because super has not previously been included in the Commonwealth's paid parental leave scheme.

Time out of the workforce to care for children, and gender pay gaps, cause cumulative inequity over adults' working lives. Women retire with about one-third less super—on average, $60,000 less—than men. They're overrepresented on the pension, and those aged over 55 represent the fastest-growing cohort of homeless people in this country. In 2021-22, in Australia, the gap in superannuation balances between men and women approaching retirement was 25.2 per cent. KPMG found that the gendered impacts of years not working due to career interruptions, part-time employment, unpaid care and work together amounted to about 33 per cent of that gap. Hence, the Australian Public Service Commission made the recommendation that the employer component of superannuation be paid on all forms of paid and unpaid pregnancy and parental leave, regardless of superannuation scheme type or contribution method.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency recently reported on the many indirect forms of discrimination that limit women's earning capacity. These include conscious and unconscious discrimination and bias in hiring, pay decisions, career progression and promotion. Women in female dominated industries tend to have jobs attracting lower wages and a lack of workplace flexibility to accommodate caring and other responsibilities and also jobs associated with a higher rate of part-time work, which, together with the greater time out of the workplace for caring responsibilities, tends to impact career progression and opportunities.

About 180,000 Australian families access paid parental leave every year, but our paid parental leave allowances are amongst the least generous in the world. The average length of paid parental leave in the OECD countries is 55 weeks. In Australia it's currently just 26 weeks. The WEET report recommended that PPL entitlements in this country be increased to 52 weeks, and the AIST noted that our leave entitlements are very limited compared to those in other OECD countries.

Women remain at a significant disadvantage, as families will always restructure their work and household duties to favour the partner with the higher income, which is typically a man. Our current tax and childcare policies disincentivise full workforce participation. Australian women just want the same opportunities as Australian men. We want to be able to better utilise our education and our skills, and we don't want to be held back by having to take the burden of care, which is often unpaid or underpaid. We want the persistent barriers that hold women back removed such that we can get on with the job of building a fairer economy for all.

I'd really like to acknowledge the important steps and the recent work in this direction undertaken by both this government and the Women's Economic Equality Taskforce. The WEET has recognised that we have to recognise the economic importance and value of the care sector in Australia. We have to help families to better share their caring responsibilities. Australian research has shown that increasing shared paid parental leave allowances won't just increase mothers' earnings across their lifetimes; it will also boost national productivity.

This is a catch-up measure. It's not a groundbreaker, but it's an important indication of real commitment to an important cause, both by this government and by the crossbench, to address gender inequity. I have to say that this is a commitment which stands in stark contrast to the attitude of the opposition. As recently as June 2024, Senator Hume, the shadow minister for finance, who was, in the Morrison government, Australia's first minister for women's economic security, called measures like this one—measures which are, after all, designed to right a historical wrong—welfare policies. She further labelled them 'patronising in the extreme.' That sort of sentiment has been rejected by electorates like Kooyong, in which women and men have asked me repeatedly to advocate on their behalf for gender equity and to work towards a society in which our small boys and small girls see their parents as being equally able to look after them, physically, socially and financially.

The financial impact of this bill will be $1.1 billion over the forward estimates. That's a very small price to pay. As the WEET Taskforce report said in 2023, if we completely eliminate negative gender bias from our economy we could unlock $128 billion lost annually to that gender inequity. We face many key economic challenges in the coming decade. These include the decarbonisation of our industries, adjustment to the economic impact of climate change, the challenge of managing an ageing workforce and an increase in intergenerational inequity. There are geopolitical challenges, the rise of AI and other technological advances. This is the absolutely ideal time to unlock the value of women's full economic participation and to work together towards a fairer and more equal Australia. So I commend this bill to the House and look forward to further similar progress in this really important area.

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