Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Minister for Disability Reform. How is the government helping Australian working families balance their work and family responsibilities?

Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Disability Reform) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Moreton very much for his question. I certainly know he understands, in his own family life, what so many other families face: the daily juggle of getting their kids up and ready for school as mum and dad get ready for work, dropping them off at school and at childcare.

This government also understands those challenges, and that is why we have been determined to support families as they make their choices every single day. That is why it was left to this government to deliver Australia's first national paid parental leave scheme—a national paid parental leave scheme that has now delivered to 260,000 families in this country. And in the electorate of Moreton in Brisbane around 1,600 families have benefited different from our paid parental leave scheme, making sure that families get the choice to stay at home with their newborn babies and get that extra financial support with their bills.

Of course, it was this government that delivered dad and partner pay, just six weeks ago. Six weeks ago we delivered dad and partner pay so that dads, too, can have some time off work to spend that precious couple of weeks at the start of their babies' lives and also get some financial support with their bills.

Since 1 January this year we have seen around 6,000 dads apply for dad and partner pay. So, 6,000 dads are getting the help that they need to spend time at home with their newborn babies. We know that as children grow, families need that flexibility of work, and we have heard from the Prime Minister today about how this Labor government will make sure that as children grow and as parents juggle their work and family responsibilities, we make sure that families have as much flexibility as possible to juggle those responsibilities.

What we also know is that those opposite do not support the choices that families are making. It is this government that has delivered the schoolkids bonus, and those opposite, of course, do not trust the choices that families are making. They want to take the schoolkids bonus back because they do not trust how families are spending the money. It was this Leader of the Opposition who said, when he was a minister, that he would see paid parental leave introduced over his dead body. No wonder parents do not trust anything he says. Now he says that he has the idea of paying wealthy women $75,000 to have the baby—parents do not trust anything he says. (Time expired)