Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Status of Women. Will the minister inform the House about the government’s contribution to improving the position of women in the workplace? Has the government considered previous approaches?

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Franklin for her question. I know that, with her long and strong history in defending the rights of working men and women, she knows what an important issue this is. Australians are rightly proud of the progress that we have made over many years in achieving greater equality between men and women. But, while Australians have changed their attitudes and their behaviours over time, it is a little disappointing to see that the opposition in many respects have not. Yesterday we heard from the member for O’Connor, who said that women want to work part time on the weekends so dad can be home to look after the kids.

Wilson Tuckey (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Women want to work part time.

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The House will come to order. Those behind the minister are not assisting.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I was actually going to agree with the member for O’Connor in one respect, which is that that does suit many families. There are many families where they want to have one person working part time. But there are a lot of families where women want to work full time too. It is a little difficult to be the Governor-General or the CEO of Westpac or the CEO of Heytesbury Holdings and work part time. In fact, there are women all over Australia who are supporting themselves and supporting their kids, struggling along with full-time work—and they are proud to do it.

The fact is that the modern world has both men and women working and it has both men and women wanting to share the responsibility and the joy of raising kids and looking after a family. Our modern workplace laws have to reflect that. They have to reflect the modern reality that women work part time and full time. Dads tell me all the time that they want to spend more time with their kids. The fact that some women want to work part time so dad can be home with the kids on the weekend certainly is not a reason to exploit them. It is certainly not a reason to pay them less or take away their pay and conditions. It reflects a very old fashioned view that women are not supporting a family when they work; they are working for pin money.

Last week we saw the gratuitous insults about women in our defence forces. We heard opposition members say that women on the front line would threaten rational thought and the success of the mission and that the psychological standards of the forces would be compromised by the admission of women. Well, news flash: women are already soldiers, sailors, pilots and medics. They are already on the front line.

We see an emerging trend here—an emerging trend of an opposition stuck in the past and out of touch with the reality of modern Australian lives. And nowhere is this more evident than on the website of the Liberal Party of Australia. I had a look at the website of the Liberal Party of Australia and it has a section about the Liberal Party. In the section about the Liberal Party it has a subheading ‘Women and the Liberal Party’. It is good. It is very interesting and very informative. I looked at the picture in the ‘Women and the Liberal Party’ section and found that it has one, two—

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, really—

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Actually, Julie, you are in it; it is okay.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will resume her seat.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order on relevance. This display that the minister is seeking to make relevant is entirely irrelevant to the question that she was asked, and I ask that she desist in using that—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will resume her seat. I will listen carefully to the response by the minister. The minister should refer to members by their parliamentary titles.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The photograph has four blokes and one woman. But it actually gets even better. It says that the ‘government recognises that the ability of women to participate in the workforce, and in society more broadly, is underpinned by education and training’. It goes on to say that the ‘government is committed to an Australia where women are full and active participants’, and ‘the government has introduced a number of measures to allow women to better prepare for their retirement’. Oops! It has been almost two years now—

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On a point of order, Mr Speaker: at four minutes and thirty seconds, I would invite you to ask the minister to draw her answer to a conclusion.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member will resume his seat. As he is aware, the standing orders are silent on that matter. The question was in order. The minister is responding to the question, and I would think that she is getting much closer to the end than to the start of her response.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It has been almost two years. John Howard is not the Prime Minister anymore. Sir Robert Menzies is not the Prime Minister anymore. Both men and women work outside the home and inside the home. The majority of families share work and caring responsibilities, and at different times in their lives together mum may stay home more with their kids. At different times there are—

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Dutton interjecting

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Dickson and those on my right!

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At different times in their lives together, mum and dad share those caring responsibilities. Sometimes mum stays at home more—

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

sometimes grandparents help out—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will resume her seat. The minister has lost the call. The Manger of Opposition Business has a point of order.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the member be no longer heard.

A division having been called and the bells having been rung—

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I might give the Manager of Opposition Business an opportunity to rethink just how bad a look this is.

There is no point of order. The Leader of the House has made a point.

Question put.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government believes that it is the role of government to support and facilitate choice, not to make choices for families about hours worked and supports needed. The opposition, in contrast, is stuck in the past. We saw today in the Sydney Morning Herald that they do not let women ask questions—it seems now we are not allowed to answer them either!

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Hunt interjecting

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The House will come to order. I think the member for Flinders knows that I really have to warn him for that outburst. He is warned.