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

The government do not support this amendment. We're investing $1.2 billion over five years to expand the scheme to 26 weeks by 2026. It is the large expansion to paid parental leave since Labor introduced it in 2011. In addition, the government recently announced we will pay super on PPL from July 2025.

Australia is one of the few OECD countries that have a parental leave scheme funded entirely by the taxpayer. Many OECD countries instead have contributory schemes where employees and employers make funding contributions. Australia takes a hybrid approach to parental leave, where the government payment is a minimum entitlement designed to complement employer provided leave. To extend the length of time parents can take off after birth or adoption, they can receive the government payment before, after or at the same time as employer paid leave.

Parental leave has significant benefits for businesses, who also have a key role to play. The proportion of businesses providing their own paid parental leave has steadily increased to around two-thirds, up from less than half-a-decade ago. This positive trend demonstrates employers increasingly see themselves as having a role alongside government in providing paid parental leave, recognising it is a workplace entitlement rather than a welfare payment, and we want to see this trend keep going.