Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Hansard source

I understand your passion here, Senator Waters, but I will get to that. It is about annual and sick leave and reducing the impact of parental leave on retirement incomes. This is the first time the government will be paying superannuation on a government payment. A start date of 1 July 2025 will allow us to get this right. This is not a straightforward legislative change, and it will involve significant change to PPL, income tax and superannuation legislation. It also requires significant systems changes across Services Australia and the ATO. It's not clear how these amendments from the Greens would operate in practice, including how PPL recipients would be paid their super, given the lack of clarity in these amendments.

Including superannuation as a part of this bill is not practical. Not only could it affect the successful implementation of paying super on PPL, but it could also jeopardise the timely passage of this bill. The timely passage of this bill is critical for expecting parents to be able to start to pre-claim from the end of March. Under the Paid Parental Leave Act, families are able to pre-claim up to three months ahead of their expected due date so that, from the parents' end, the administration is settled before the baby arrives. Around two thirds of families choose to pre-claim. So I just would like to say to the Greens that the government wants to get super on PPL right. Don't hold up this important bill, which extends PPL to 22 weeks from 1 July this year, 24 weeks from July 2025 and 26 weeks from July 2026.