Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If you're having a baby after 1 July this year, you'll be the first to benefit from the changes to paid parental leave that passed through the Senate today. There's an extra two weeks of leave, which increases every year so there will be a full six months of paid parental leave by July 2026. More than 180,000 families will benefit annually, including mums and dads in Macquarie. This gives families more paid leave and more flexibility and is a tangible way to help people with the costs of growing their family. We've increased the number of weeks reserved for each parent on a 'use it or lose it' basis to four weeks to encourage greater sharing of care. We're also providing more flexibility by upping the amount of leave both parents can take at the same time from two weeks to four weeks. It's important to know you don't have to wait until after your baby's born to make your claim. Expecting parents can pre-claim from March 26. These changes deliver the commitment we made back in the October 2022 budget, and they complement our latest improvement, which we announced earlier this month: to pay superannuation on paid parental leave from 1 July 2025. It's the biggest boost to paid parental leave since it was created in 2011 by the former Labor government. It's good for women, it's good for business and it's great for the economy.