Sam Lim (Tangney, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Social Services. How is the Albanese Labor government providing equity for women in their retirement through paying superannuation on paid parental leave, and what threats are there to this support for parents?

Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Tangney for his question. Of course, over the last two years, the Albanese Labor government has boosted and modernised our paid parental leave, after a decade of neglect and attacks from those opposite. We've made our paid parental leave more flexible, to meet the needs of modern families, we've improved means testing and of course we've extended it to 26 weeks. Additional weeks have already been rolling out, supporting families right now. Our government's next step is to legislate paying superannuation on paid parental leave to ensure that those taking paid parental leave get the support they need at the time of the birth of a baby but also don't lose out in retirement. We know that women on average retire with 25 per cent less superannuation than men of the same age. That's why we've introduced legislation to pay superannuation on paid parental leave to help close that gap.

I was asked what could threaten the support for women in retirement. I thought, when we announced our plan for superannuation on paid parental leave, which was a key recommendation from the Women's Economic Equality Taskforce, that we would receive bipartisan support. Indeed I was very heartened when the member for Farrer in March in response to our proposal said she believed in closing the superannuation gap. I, of course, then thought there would be bipartisan support. However, just as the Leader of the Opposition has opposed every single cost-of-living measure that we have introduced, they've now decided to oppose our plan to pay superannuation on paid parental leave.

This latest thought bubble from the member for Deakin to encourage parents to cash out that payment and not put it towards their retirement savings is just another idea straight from the IPA. This is the opposition's latest attack on superannuation, a system that ensures that people can retire in dignity. It's also, of course, those opposite's latest attack on paid parental leave. I don't need to remind the House that those opposite, when they were in government, called women who took paid parental leave from both the government and their employer double dippers. They demonised them on Mother's Day. What an insult to Australian women. It is only Labor that can be trusted with our superannuation system, and it is only Labor that can be trusted with paid parental leave.