Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When it comes to paid parental leave, we know that expanding access is good for women, good for their partners, important for their babies and beneficial for our broader economy. It's also a key way we can advance gender equality and help close the pervasive gender pay gap. But these changes don't come about by accident; this is something which would never have happened without a Labor government acting on behalf of those parents and children who stand to benefit most from an expanded scheme, those men and women who will make different decisions because of the scheme, who will have more time with their precious babies because of it and who will stay better connected to the workforce and therefore have greater economic security because of our government's changes.

But of course in all of this there has been some unfinished business. We are working tirelessly as a government to close the gender pay gap, and the progress has been real. But the super pay gap matters too, and that's why I am so proud that our government has announced that superannuation on government paid parental leave will be paid from 1 July 2025. There are many people across our community who have championed this reform. But today I want to acknowledge the special contribution of one woman in particular, and that is Sam, a proud delegate for the SDA who I met first back in 2019, when her youngest daughter was just four months old. Sam is a supermarket worker raising three young children, living here in Canberra. She has been a night manager and worked for one of the two major supermarket chains for 16 years. She has been fighting for super on every dollar since 2014. She has been in this building many times, taken her advocacy up to politicians from across the aisle and been relentless in pursuing this reform. I want to acknowledge Sam today and her brothers and sisters in the union movement and at the SDA, as well as all of those who have long advocated to see this change. You should be so proud of this nation-changing reform.