Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

As I indicated yesterday, I withdrew the Greens amendment that sought to do exactly this, because the government had obviously put forward an amendment that did the same thing. It is a good acknowledgment from the government that this was a flaw within the legislation. It is really important that, when we are only offering 18 weeks at the minimum wage and when there is clearly no commitment from either side anymore to extending that in the near future, we ensure that the government scheme is used in addition to existing employer funded schemes. It cannot be used as a replacement. It is a really important aspect. Of course, we know that many of the women who do not have access to any type of paid leave other than the government funded scheme will simply still have to sit on the only-18-week scheme the government has put forward in this legislation. That is unfortunate. We would have liked to have seen it at six months. But we cannot allow for any lack of clarity or misunderstanding: this taxpayer funded paid parental leave scheme cannot be simply absorbed by employers or indeed used to replace their existing schemes. That is why the Greens will be supporting the amendment.