Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Waters, in relation to everything you have just said, your analysis of the response that I gave in terms of the government not supporting the amendments put forward by the Australian Greens was completely incorrect. In fact, you verballed me. I would like the Hansard to formally reflect that that is what has just occurred in your summation.

In the first instance though I thank you for acknowledging that the government did move quickly to introduce amendments to the Paid Parental Leave scheme to allow the time that people spend on the JobKeeper payment to count towards the Paid Parental Leave work test. Thank you for acknowledging that.

In relation to the verballing of me in my response in terms of your proposed amendment that it has the potential to allow people with a non-genuine claim to be eligible for PPL, the example given was people who may have already been planning to leave work regardless of the impact of COVID-19. This is about ensuring the accuracy of the system.

You also responded in terms of the significantly greater scale of the assessments and the additional administrative burden, including for employers. In response to that, while the approach is similar to that currently applied for people who do not meet the work test due to a pregnancy-related complication or illness or a premature birth, these events are relatively rare and easily verified. The amendment you have put forward would require assessments on a significantly greater scale, as such creating additional administrative burden, including for employers.