Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Ms Macklin, I table a statement on the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into paid maternity leave. I seek leave to incorporate the statement in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The statement read as follows—

The Australia many of us grew up in can seem like a different place to the one that exists today.

The pressures of increasing costs of living and too little time are the driving force in working Australian’s lives.  The ways Australians work, live and plan for the future have radically changed.  Australians are working harder than ever but they have been seeing little return for their toll.  There is less and less time for the things that make us Australian – community, family, friendship – as working Australians are caught up in a constant cycle of financial stress and work and family strain.

One of the harsher aspects of these changes relates to the place of children.  Children - Australia’s most precious asset and the light that brightens us so much - are increasingly seen as a burden.  Children are increasingly being viewed as carrying an impossible level of responsibility and compromise for parents.

Working families are choosing not to have children because they believe the obligations of children exceed their capacity to meet those obligations.

The birth rate dropped from 3.5 babies per woman in the early 1960s to 1.84 a decade ago. It has increased a little to 1.86  babies per woman in 2006.

Research published just last month from the Australian Institute of Family Studies  reveals that the ongoing pressures on working families are preventing many women from having children.

Australian families are not having babies.  Not because they don’t want to, but because they don’t have the confidence.  They don’t believe that social and labour systems will support them if they do have another baby.

The Fertility and Family Policy in Australia study reveals that fertility rates are at close to the lowest ever in Australia and are below the level required for population replacement.

This is not news of course.  Everyone in this house knows that Australia has a fertility problem.  And they’re aware of the potentially damaging long-term economic and social consequences.  Australia’s falling fertility rate is a massive challenge that has been facing Australia for years.  The former government became aware of the issue and that is why we saw a flurry of reports ,and were subjected to the repeated battle cry that ‘demography was destiny’ from the former Treasurer.

However, for all the chest-thumping, it seems that the former Government fundamentally mis-understood the basis of the policy challenge before them.

Measures like the Baby Bonus provide some financial support to help with the initial costs of having a baby but are not enough for effectively tacking low fertility rates.

What the Fertility and Family Policy in Australia study reveals is that most of the people surveyed actually want to have more children. Very few considered no children or one child their ideal number of children.

Their decision to not have children was also influenced by other factors including difficulties in accessing childcare, job insecurity and the cost of housing.

But even in economic good times, couples lacked confidence in their ability to create and maintain a family environment which provides emotional and financial support for children.

Working families want to have more children.  They just don’t have confidence in their ability to cope.

What this shows is that old-style policies and the old way of doing things have not worked.  Old style policies and the old way of doing things have created a baby-intolerant society. 

We have to design policy settings that make having children possible.  Working families are crying out for better support during life transitions so that they have the confidence to have more children, if that’s what they want.

Old-style polices have not worked.  Support systems need to address the realities of modern Australian life.  We need fresh ideas and perspectives on how to tackle this problem. 

This Government isn’t afraid of testing new ideas; or exploring new options for addressing hard challenges.

We are committed to building a modern Australia to meet the challenges of the future.  Key to this is ensuring a child-centred approach to family policy.  The best interests of children must be at the very centre of social and family support policy.

That’s why we have been hard at work implementing our election commitments and ensuring that children are at the centre of Australia’s family and income support system.

That’s why the Deputy Prime Minster, Treasurer and I have asked the Productivity Commission to examine ways the Government can provide improved support to parents with newborn children.

Any policy reforms in this area will be aimed at ensuring strong and sustainable economic growth, take into account our ageing population and the importance of early childhood development, and support Australian families balance work and family responsibilities.

We want to explore ways to make it as easy as possible for working mums and dads to balance their employment with the important job of raising a new generation of Australians.

The Productivity Commission is uniquely placed to advise the Government on the best way to balance economic considerations with the aspirations of working families.

The Productivity Commission will be asked to look at the economic and social costs and benefits of paid maternity, paternity and parental leave.

We know that fertility issues do not start and end with paid maternity or paternity leave.  There is no one-size solution and no magic bullet. Working families need a range of options to suit their needs.

The Commission will conduct a thorough examination of these issues and provide an opportunity for public participation. The Commission will be asked to report by February 2009. Public hearings will be held and submissions from the public will also be sought, with a report produced for the Government to release publicly.

The findings of the Inquiry will feed into the Government’s plan to build a modern Australia. 

Family support must be geared to the best interests of children and stronger families. The Government is hard at work implementing our commitments and testing ideas for making sure that occurs.