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

At the request of Senator Griff, I move the following Centre Alliance second reading amendment:

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate:

(a) acknowledges the vital role that foster and kinship parents play in raising over 44,000 Australian children in out-of-home care by providing a safe and loving environment;

(b) recognises that the Federal Paid Parental Leave (PPL) scheme excludes kinship and foster parents, representing a significant disservice to vulnerable children in the child protection system who are placed with a new family;

(c) notes that research shows the ages of 0-2 are a developmentally vital time in which a child forms secure or insecure attachment behaviours and PPL assists primary carers to spend valuable bonding time with an infant;

(d) further acknowledges a number of top-tier firms in Australia do not discriminate against foster and kinship parents and include them in the paid parental leave they offer to their employees; and

(e) calls on the Government to extend the Paid Parental Leave scheme to foster and kinship parents of children aged 0-2".

Question negatived.

by leave—Could you record the Greens' support for that amendment, please?