Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Walsh for the question, and, again, everyone on this side of the chamber, including Senator Walsh, for their advocacy around paying super on PPL. It's part of Labor Party policy, and we are so pleased we have got the budget into a shape now where we can afford this important investment.

We know that one-third of the gender pay gap can be attributed to time spent caring for family and interruptions in full-time employment. Women with children face an average 55 per cent drop in earnings in their first five years of parenthood, while fathers' incomes don't change at all.

Last week we announced Working for Women: A Strategy for Gender Equality, and, as part of that and our commitment to driving gender equality in this country, we made the announcement that parents accessing Commonwealth paid parental leave will get an equivalent 12 per cent superannuation guarantee payment on top of their paid parental leave payment from 1 July 2025. We don't see this payment as a welfare measure, as some of those opposite have painted it; we see it as a workplace entitlement. We know the gender super gap that exists is between 22 to 32 per cent.

It has been an anomaly that the government paid parental leave hasn't included super on it, so it means women—and it is predominately women who are using that payment, although that may change with some of the changes that we've put in place and that were passed by the Senate this morning—paying another financial penalty for taking time out. The announcement was for two things: (1) because it was the right thing to do to fix that anomaly, and (2) we wanted to send a strong message that we value the caring role that parents play, and we wanted that to be reflected in the decision that we took on super on PPL.