Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Hansard source

In the very short time that has been allotted to speak, I rise to speak on the Paid Parental Leave and Other Legislation Amendment (Dad and Partner Pay and Other Measures) Bill 2012. This bill will amend the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010 and the Fair Work Act 2009 as well as implement other minor changes to five acts consequential to the dad and partner pay payment in order to extend the Paid Parental Leave Scheme to fathers and partners from 1 January.

The coalition welcome the long-overdue change in this amendment, which was promised by the government in 2010. Schedule 1 of this bill extends the Paid Parental Leave Scheme to provide two weeks pay for fathers and partners at the national minimum wage level of $590 per week before tax. It is important to note that fathers and partners will only be able to lodge claims from October 2012 for children born or adopted on or after 1 January 2013. Despite this payment being promised at the 2010 election, dad and partners will have to wait until 2013 to receive a paternity leave payment from the government. While the coalition do not oppose the bill, the reality is that the coalition's paid parental leave scheme is far superior to the government scheme, in that our scheme provides real benefits for women, men, families, business and the economy. In summary, instead of trying to fool the public and portray the coalition's PPL scheme as a reward for the rich, Labor should look at the facts. Labor's paid parental leave scheme does not pay superannuation, while the coalition's scheme includes superannuation at the mandatory level. Our scheme is a genuine social reform that will help families; it is not the box-ticking exercise that is the government's. Labor is asking employers to be the pay clerks, despite the Productivity Commission warning that the biggest dangers of an employer co-funded paid parental leave scheme are discrimination against women of reproductive age and, in the shorter term, financial pressure on cash-strapped employers. Under the coalition's plan, small business will not pay the levy and they will not administer the scheme. Workers taking paid parental leave will be paid directly by the government and businesses do not have to find the money and then wait to be reimbursed. Labor's scheme places an administrative burden on small business, while the coalition's plan will be administered by the Family Assistance Office.

A clear contrast between the coalition's PPL scheme and Labor's scheme is that no woman will be any worse off under the coalition's scheme and, further, 99 per cent of working women will be financially better off compared with the Labor scheme. The coalition's PPL scheme also provides more time for mothers to bond with their children. Labor's 18 weeks is insufficient time for women to breastfeed and bond with their child. The coalition will be giving women 26 weeks of PPL compared with Labor's scheme of 18 weeks. The coalition's 26-week scheme is precisely the duration that health experts recommend is the minimum period for optimal maternal and health outcomes.

One of the most important differences under the coalition's scheme is that working women on PPL will receive superannuation contributions at the mandatory nine per cent level. Labor's PPL scheme does not provide for any superannuation payments during PPL and, because of this fundamental failing, will further entrench the financial disadvantage of women who have chosen to have children. The coalition believes that if government is committed to women and to ensuring their financial security, superannuation contributions must be paid while women are receiving paid parental leave.

This is a step towards ensuring that women are not disadvantaged when it comes to their retirement savings. With the average life expectancy for women being higher than for men, it is important that women are not penalised with low retirement savings for having children. Research shows that a typical woman will have 35 per cent less savings than a typical man and that a woman who takes a career break to have children will have 26 per cent less for retirement than if she had continued working. That is why the coalition believe that women should not be disadvantaged when the time comes to draw on retirement savings and that is why we have included superannuation in our policy. Financial security for women is something we have seen various Labor ministers for the status of women pay lip service to but take no action on, and that is clearly reflected in the government's paid parental leave scheme. The least the government could do is admit that its policy on this is wrong and harmful to a woman's financial security.

Men will also be better off under the coalition's scheme. More than 94 percent of full-time working men will be better off financially under the coalition's PPL scheme and, unlike Labor's scheme, no man will be worse off. Men on low incomes will be up to $200 better off under the coalition's scheme and men on middle incomes will be up to $1,500 better off. Working families are also significantly better off under the coalition's PPL scheme. Why? Because they will get more time off and more money under our scheme. Unlike Labor, the coalition recognises that paid parental leave is a work entitlement rather than a welfare benefit.

Employees are entitled to sick, carers, annual, bereavement and public holiday leave at their actual salary amount and paid parental leave, in our opinion, should be no different. Under the coalition's PPL scheme, employees will receive a proper work entitlement. A proper paid parental leave scheme reinforces that taking time off work for births is a normal part of life and not an inconvenience, as the Labor scheme would have it. The coalition's PPL scheme gives women real choice because it fully supports their income when their family is at a most financially vulnerable time. Our PPL scheme recognises that a family's financial responsibilities do not reduce when a child is born into the family. There is no maternity leave from mortgage payments, power and fuel bills or grocery expenses. Mortgage payments, electricity and fuel bills and grocery costs do not take maternity leave but women certainly do and so, for a reasonable amount of time, their pay should be like any other work entitlement and not a basic welfare entitlement.

One of the other clear differences between Labor's scheme and the coalition's scheme is that the Labor scheme forces small and big business to incur the red-tape cost of administering the PPL payments. On that point, I was astounded to hear the member for Corangamite in the other place say:

... I want to make it very clear to those listening in the House today or via the broadcast that the paperwork burden is actually very manageable and very small and does not take a great deal of effort by either the employee or the employer. If you look at the efforts that this government has made in terms of red tape reduction, I think we have a first-class record of removing unnecessary red tape. Importantly, there is some necessary red tape or regulation to ensure proper operation of our laws. The level of paperwork associated with this is appropriate, it is not a great burden and it does not take an unnecessary amount of time.