Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister for Finance and Minister for Women. Minister, Australia now has one of the poorest paid parental leave schemes in the OECD. We're stuck at 18 weeks paid leave with two weeks for partners paid at just minimum wage and without superannuation, a pay cut for many working families at a critical moment in their lives. Meanwhile, the rest of the OECD has overtaken us, with the average period of paid parental leave now around 52 weeks and close to full wage replacement in many places. Australians and organisations from across the country, parents, women, unions and employers are united in their call for more paid parental leave for Australia's parents, especially mothers. This was one of the most common and most united points of discussion at the recent Jobs and Skills Summit, and not a voice was raised against it. When will your government increase the length of paid parental leave?

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

I thank Senator Pocock for the question and I acknowledge her deep expertise in this area. As the preamble to the question implied, this was discussed at the Jobs and Skills Summit. There is a lot of support for extending the paid parental leave system in Australia. Of course, it was a scheme that was put in place by a former Labor government, because it's Labor governments that do these big things and that answer these big policy challenges. Whilst I'm not here to announce any extension of the PPL scheme, as Minister for Women it's something that I am looking at closely, if and when we can make room in the budget for it. We're also dealing with significant deficits across the forward estimates. We have a trillion dollars of debt, which, as I said in my last question, is getting more costly to manage. There is no shortage of very good ideas that the government would like to fund if we had the capacity to do so.

Last week I announced the Women's Economic Equality Taskforce, chaired by Sam Mostyn, which has a fantastic group of 13 women. They will be providing advice to government, and I have no doubt that PPL and improvements to the PPL scheme will be a part of the work that they do. The former minister responsible for implementing the PPL scheme, Jenny Macklin, is also on that task force, and it came up at the first meeting. I think there is agreement about the fact that we need to improve our PPL scheme, but the budget is under real stress and I have to manage those challenges as well.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Pocock, a first supplementary question?

Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those supporting increased paid parental leave know that we can afford it and we can afford it now. We can afford to increase the length of leave and the rate of payment, and pay superannuation on it. Rather than give a $9,000 tax cut to the 227 politicians in this building and to the very well off, we can redirect stage 3 tax cuts to the parents who need it most. Will you set aside the stage 3 tax cuts and instead improve paid parental leave?

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

Our position on stage 3 tax cuts hasn't changed. Also, the amount of good ideas that are coming to the government would more than exceed the allocations related to that. I'm just making the point that the Greens policies alone would spend that 10 times over. On the point of PPL, I genuinely want—and the government genuinely wants—to look at how we can progress this, when we have the room in the budget to do so.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Pocock, a second supplementary question?

Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You mentioned Jenny Macklin. In her second reading speech on the introduction of the first paid parental leave bill—the Paid Parental Leave Bill 2010—she drew attention to the need to pay superannuation on paid parental leave. But here we are, 12 years on, and there is no progress on that front. We must make sure that mothers in particular don't find themselves living in poverty after a lifetime of work and care. Why should the price of care be poverty in old age? Will your government ensure that all periods of parental leave are covered by superannuation payments so that parents aren't left behind? (Time expired)

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

I look forward to working with Senator Pocock to advance women's economic equality in this country. It is absolutely a priority for this government, as you would have seen in some of the policies that we took to the election and some of the ways we raised the level of interest in women's economic equality at the Jobs and Skills Summit. I do look forward to working with anyone in this chamber who wants to genuinely progress economic equality. Obviously, super on paid parental leave has always been part of the discussion. I have no doubt that the Women's Economic Equality Taskforce will be looking at this and providing me with advice in the near term.