Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

No, the AiG is not correct. The government's paid parental leave policy is an important social and economic reform, as the Leader of the Government in the Senate has said earlier today.

It is a central part of our plan to build a stronger, more prosperous economy. One of the big structural challenges that we are facing as a nation is that, as a result of the ageing population, we are confronted with falling workforce participation rates. In order to lift workforce participation rates, we need to encourage older Australians to work longer and we need to lift workforce participation by women. Our Paid Parental Leave Scheme will be an important part of that.

I ask Senator Cameron, a union official from way back: do you think that paid parental leave is a welfare entitlement? Do you think that sick leave is a welfare entitlement? Do you think that annual leave is a welfare entitlement? This is the whole point. We on this side of the parliament say that, when the working women of Australia have a baby and have to take leave from work, they deserve to have, up to a certain level, their replacement wage paid to them during that period, in the same way as somebody, whom you might have represented as a worker in the past, has access to sick leave entitlements at their replacement wage, access to long service leave at their replacement wage and access to their annual leave at their replacement wage.

It is quite unbelievable that it has to be the coalition that is standing up for working women across Australia, that it is the coalition that is working towards a fair deal for working women across Australia, because the Labor Party is selling out the working women of Australia. You have long lost the plot when it comes to building a stronger, more prosperous economy.