Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak to the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Improvements for Families and Gender Equality) Bill 2022. Once again, this is Labor delivering on its promise to the working families of Australia. We are delivering two weeks of paid family leave now, and we'll gradually increase it up to a total of six months of paid leave shared between two parents by 2026. This measure will have a demonstrable and beneficial effect on parents who want to spend more time with their children, and what could be wrong with that?

It also reminds me that, as a mother of three, I didn't get any paid parental leave at all for my first two children. I finally got some for the third. By that stage we thought that it was about time, but it was such a struggle. It's been a long time getting to this point.

I know how precious those first few months are with the remarkable gift of a child. Care responsibilities are critically important to the healthy life of a child and a family. I'm proud to be part of a government that acknowledges this and is making real changes. It's really important to think that in so many policy areas, when the Australian people elected the previous government for three terms, there was a huge policy vacuum in this space and a failure to respond to the realities for Australian people.

I don't think it's a surprise—having so many women sitting on this side of the chamber, and our colleagues over in the other place, and men who share parenting very, very significantly speaking up in our caucus about that shared parenting—that such a policy was able to be advanced as a commitment during the election by Labor. Now we're getting on with the job of delivering for Australians so they know that they can trust the government. We've said what we're going to do and we're getting on with doing it.

Labor created the Paid Parental Leave scheme, and we're expanding it. We're taking a staged and sensible approach to expanding the scheme. We have to do that sensibly because of the fiscal reality in which we find ourselves as a consequence of nine wasted years of debt growth by those opposite. Clearly, we're speaking at a time of global economic headwinds and budgetary pressures.

From 1 July 2023, the bill is going to deliver six really significant changes, combining the two existing schemes into a single 20-week scheme and reserving a portion of the scheme for each of the parents to support them both to take some time off work after the birth or adoption. It's going to be the case that some Australian men will be saying, 'How do I do this?' The response will simply be: 'You go to your work and you say that you're taking your leave because you've got childminding responsibilities.' That's going to be a radical departure for some men in particular professions. This is going to support and encourage that, and we know it's good for families and it's great for children.

This bill is going to make it easier for both parents to access the payment by removing the notion of primary and secondary carers. The reality for most working families is that you just muck in and get on with it. You don't say: 'I'm the primary carer today,' or 'I'm the secondary carer.' You're both the parents—you do the job—and this recognises that.

The bill expands access by introducing a $350,000 family income test under which people can qualify if they do not meet the $156,647 individual-income test. This is dealing with the reality of what's out there in the Australian population and not trying to pit one type of family against another. It's about getting Australia working and making sure that kids get cared for properly.

It increases flexibility for parents to choose how they take paid parental leave days and transition back to work, because it's very different from context to context, from family to family and from region to region. The sixth thing it will do is allow eligible fathers and partners to access the payment irrespective of whether the mother or birth parent meets the income test or residency requirements.

It's an extremely important bill and it's a very substantial reform. It's one that's been driven by the Albanese government's deep commitment to the maximisation of women's economic equality and the economic benefit for the Australian economy that's derived from proper and equitable social policy. Australians need a paid parental leave scheme that reflects our modern Australian families.

The expansion to 26 weeks by 2026 reflects the Albanese government's commitment to deliver better outcomes for families and to advance women's economic participation. In the lead-up to the election, the leader of the Labor Party—now the leader of the country, the Prime Minister—was out there stating this over and over. My colleagues sitting here beside me, men and women, were fighting for this reform and standing up for this reform, which was pooh-poohed by so many people. That's the problem. Other countries have been getting on with this job. We've got nine blank years—nine wasted years—to make up for now we've removed the previous government and established a Labor government. Our changes are not only going to help families better balance work and care but they're going to support the vital participation and productivity over the longer term, providing an immense return on investment for this policy and a huge boost to the Australian economy.

It's a policy that addresses the demands of modern life and the realities of modern families. It's a bill that's thorough and successful in achieving what it sets out to do, creating a paid parental leave scheme that truly works for families. And it centres equality and economic growth, not just the principle, and absolutely embeds this in practice. It's going to give more families across Australia access to government support. It's going to provide families with more flexibility and encourage parents to share the care with a view that supports what we know is just the fair and decent thing—and that's gender equality for all the men and women who are being born and all the men and women who are looking after them—together.

It gives me immense pride to speak in support of the bill, as part of a government which is delivering on its promises, and it will assist the lives of 180,000 Australian families every year. The bill is good for Australia's economy, it's good for our society and it's absolutely, totally intertwined with our success and our future. It delivers for parents. It benefits children. It's good policy by a Labor government that is inspired to do the best thing for Australian people. And for those reasons, I commend the bill to the house.