Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Adding Superannuation for a More Secure Retirement) Bill 2024. I often reflect, in this place, on my experiences working with women in the homelessness sector. It was an absolute honour and privilege to be a small part of their lives at a time of great distress, to hear their stories and to provide support and assistance to help them rebuild their lives. But, as with all issues, prevention is better than cure, and so it's important to understand how women come to be homeless, not just to pick up the pieces afterwards.

It's cheaper, more effective and better for the humans involved to prevent crisis rather than to have to rebuild after the damage is done. When I spoke to women experiencing homelessness, it was clear that their current circumstances were the result of perfect storms of gender disadvantage throughout up our lives. They were often in low-paid jobs in casualised part-time employment, as is so common in the feminised industries. Recent pay rises in aged care and child care and the rise in the minimum wage, along with a groundbreaking IR legislation aimed at same job, same pay and closing loopholes to improve the rights of casual and gig economy workers, have made huge strides towards closing the gender pay gap, as can be seen by the record low gender pay gap of 11.5 per cent achieved by this government's deliberate policies and legislative agenda.

These women also often had time off work for parenting, and these gaps in their employment—sometimes leading to the loss of a job—had huge financial impacts on their financial positions. When I had my children in 1999, there was only unpaid parental leave available. Women make up the majority of primary caregivers in this country, leading to what has been referred to as 'the motherhood penalty', where they face greater economic insecurity because of time out of the workforce to care for children.

Women with children face an average 55 per cent drop in earnings in the first five years of parenthood. The effect of lower income compounds over time, increasing the gap between men's and women's superannuation balances at retirement. The data is clear: women retire with around 25 per cent less super than men, and we want to change this. We know inequality serves no-one. As adults, sometimes as older adults, these women are knocking on the doors of homelessness shelters, sleeping on the couches of friends and family or bouncing from one housesitting job to another, sleeping in their car in between. They're homeless, and, when you ask them about their financial resources, they have no savings and next to no superannuation. A $4,000 super balance was a pretty good balance in the homelessness sector. That's not going to help you in retirement.

The campaign for paid parental leave and superannuation on paid parental leave has been a long one but an important one, and it takes a Labor government to undertake the groundbreaking reforms that make lives better for Australians. Labor has a long and proud history of improving the lives of Australian families with critical nation-building reforms. It was a Labor government who introduced our country's first maternity allowance back in 1912. It was a Labor government who created Medicare, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and the National Disability Insurance Scheme. It was Labor governments who delivered no-fault divorce, the single mothers' benefit and child support system, and it was a Labor government that introduced compulsory superannuation. It was a Labor government, the Gillard government, that introduced paid parental leave in this country.

When paid parental leave was introduced, in 2011, it was a major milestone for Australian families. As the then minister for families, the Hon. Jenny Macklin, said in parliament at the time:

This historic reform is a major win for working families who have been waiting decades for a national paid parental leave scheme.

For many parents, the 18-week payment fully funded by the government was the first time they could access any paid parental leave, and this was a material advancement in workplace and economic equality for women, whose disproportionate share of unpaid care has long-term consequences for their economic security. Paid parental leave is critical for families, critical for women and critical for the economy. The Gillard government knew this, and the Albanese government knows it too.

From day one, the Albanese government has been working hard to improve paid parental leave for working families. As a centrepiece of our first budget, we announced important reforms to modernise the scheme to meet the needs of Australian families. First we passed legislation so that, from 1 July 2023, more families have access to the payment with a more generous family income test, it's easier for parents to share care and they can take leave flexibly, with periods of work in between, to support them in the transition back to work. Then, earlier this year, we passed legislation to increase the length of the scheme. On 1 July 2024, we added two more weeks of payment, expanding the scheme from 20 weeks to 22 weeks. The scheme will further expand by two weeks each year, until it reaches 26 weeks in 2026. All these changes combined mean paid parental leave is now more accessible and flexible, and it encourages shared care. It supports parents to take a step back from paid work, and it provides critical financial support at such an important time.

The Liberal and National parties have some weird ideological fixation against superannuation, against Australians being able to fund a comfortable retirement through superannuation. It's really short-term thinking to try and solve current societal problems by raiding the retirement savings of people in the future. It's a false choice, trading off your future against your present. Those opposite say they value superannuation and they value those who can provide for their own retirement, but they keep finding ways to encourage people to raid their super early in their career. Money that doesn't go into superannuation now or gets taken out of superannuation misses out on potentially decades of compound interest. People retire with tens of thousands of dollars less, and that is the story of women retiring with 25 per cent less superannuation. We need to have social policies that support people to have a better now and a better future.

An example of this ideological fixation against superannuation is the coalition's much-disparaged plan to allow young people to fund a housing deposit through raiding their superannuation balance, which flies in the face of logic. Few young people have sufficient balance to be able to make any sort of significant difference to a housing deposit, but also adding additional money into the purchasing only increases demand and does nothing for supply and will, therefore, lead to higher housing prices, in addition to setting them up for a poorer retirement. Economists say it's bad policy and housing experts say it's bad policy, but those opposite still back it.

Now I read in the media this morning, and I've just heard from a couple of speakers, that the Liberal and National parties think that parents should be able to take additional superannuation on paid parental leave as a cash lump sum rather than putting it into their super. This completely flies in the face of the actual purpose of superannuation on paid parental leave, which is about gender equity for women and addressing structural gender inequality. I was quite shocked by the words of the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party a little earlier and of the previous speaker, the member for Sturt, daring this House to trade off the safe, secure retirement of Australian women. Their plan won't help women facing homelessness and poverty in the future, won't close the gender pay gap and won't change that superannuation difference between men and women retiring.

The reason why the Albanese Labor government has achieved a record low gender pay gap is that we've addressed the actual structural issues that caused it. This bill is about resolving the issue of women retiring with 25 per cent less superannuation than men and of women retiring into poverty and homelessness. It's not okay. Paying super on paid parental leave is a positive investment in the future of working women and the broader economy. So I'm very disappointed at the words that I've heard from those opposite. This bill will mean so much for Australian families, for Australian women and for the economy. Women are 51 per cent of the community, and gender inequity is still an issue.

Going back to the bill, how will it work? For babies born or adopted from 1 July 2025, this bill delivers all eligible parents with an additional 12 per cent of their paid parental leave as a contribution directly into their super fund. This super contribution will match the superannuation guarantee rate as at 1 July of the financial year that paid parental leave is taken. It will rise with any future increases to the legislated superannuation guarantee. The contribution will be made annually by the Australian Taxation Office after the end of each financial year. It will include an additional interest component to address any forgone superannuation fund earnings as a result of the payment not being made more regularly. Most parents won't need to do anything further to receive their superannuation payment, and the claim process for paid parental leave will not change. Around 180,000 Australian families will benefit from these changes.

Once the Paid Parental Leave scheme reaches 26 weeks in 2026 and based on a superannuation guarantee of 12 per cent, the maximum amount a family would receive in superannuation contributions is around $3,000. Having $3,000 in your hand now is a fair bit, but imagine what it will be with compound interest over the next three or four decades until your retirement. This bill and our two other paid parental leave laws before it send a clear message that the government is committed to a stronger parental leave system, and we want to see this reinforced through workplaces. The government payment is a minimum entitlement designed to complement employer provided leave. Paying super on government funded paid parental leave will continue to normalise parental leave as a workplace entitlement like annual and sick leave. On this side of the House, we know investing in paid parental leave is an investment in families, in women's economic security and in the broader economy. The Albanese government's historic reforms cement paid parental leave as a Labor legacy.

I mentioned earlier that I didn't get paid parental leave when I had my boys in 1999. One of the things that has driven me in my preparliamentary career working for the community, when I ran for parliament and in my work here in this place and in my electorate of Boothby is that I want better for those who follow behind me. I didn't get paid parental leave. I had that income gap and I have that gap in my superannuation. But I want better for those having families now and in the future. I want gender equity for the women who follow behind me, and superannuation on paid parental leave is an important part of that. It is not okay that women retire with 25 per cent less superannuation than men. Women are retiring into poverty. They're turning up in the homelessness sectors. The amendments being offered by those opposite do nothing to address this—nothing at all.

It was Labor that first introduced paid parental leave in 2011. It's Labor that invests in a better future for Australian families. In our first term, we've made the most significant reforms to paid parental leave since it was introduced over a decade ago. Paid parental leave has changed the lives of millions of Australians. Our reforms make the scheme stronger and more suitable for the needs of modern families. Paid parental leave is a proud Labor legacy, and we will always work to strengthen it.

Super on paid parental leave is good for women, good for families, good for employees, good for business and good for the economy. We need to start getting those numbers of women ending up in homelessness down. This is a part of it. This helps with their superannuation balances. I commend the bill to the House.

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