Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move Greens amendment (4) on sheet 5744:

(4)    Clause 65, page 76 (lines 5 to 8), omit subclause (1), substitute:

        (1)    An employee who is a parent, or has responsibility for the care, of a child may request the employer for a change in working arrangements to assist the employee to care for the child if the child:

             (a)    is under school age; or

             (b)    is under 18 and has a disability.

This amendment relates to one of the issues that we were just talking about. It is an alternative to my previous amendment and it is not as comprehensive. The amendment extends to parents of children who are under the age of 18 and have a disability eligibility to request flexible working arrangements. This is not as comprehensive as my previous amendment but it is a very important step for parents with children who have a disability. When you are a carer of a child with a disability you have a lot of requirements, a lot of medical issues that you need to deal with and you have a lot of other caring responsibilities beyond those that you would have if you were not looking after a child with a disability.

I strongly commend this amendment to the Senate as it will make a significant difference to parents of children with a disability. It may mean the difference between whether or not they can actually be a member of the workforce. In many cases if they do not have flexible working arrangements they cannot maintain their active engagement with the workforce. I strongly commend this amendment to the house.