Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I was about to quote from ABigger Picture, a book written by Malcolm Turnbull, a former prime minister who served in this place. He said:

Meanwhile, Abbott's paid parental leave policy was languishing in the Senate; apart from Tony, not one member of the cabinet wanted it to pass.

Not one—and we know that there was one person who was in that cabinet who still is in parliament today, and that is, of course, the Leader of the Opposition. There were policies promoted and promised to the Australian people by those opposite when they came to power in 2013, and I can confirm, having gone back and looked at the factual records, that the Leader of the Opposition, who was obviously trying to undo his own leaders' policy proposals at the time, does have a starring role in Our plan: real solutions for all Australians.

I appreciate the ABC. I think they do a fantastic job. I think many in this building enjoyed the contributions they made last night to the national political discourse, but I did think they probably were a little bit soft when it came to the history of the paid parental leave saga that happened when those opposite were last in government. But, obviously, where you had people—including the current Leader of the Opposition—not supporting the paid parental leave proposals, you also had the then Prime Minister—and it does get confusing because there were so many—delivering a 'thinly veiled rebuke of Peter Dutton over the former health minister's handling of the GP co-payment'. So it's all happy families on that side.

This piece of legislation is just one part of our plan for further closing of the gender pay gap and further investment in making sure that we do have gender equality in this country. I want to note the achievements of the Minister for Women, who has very proudly and rightly noted that the national gender pay gap, under this government, is at the lowest level on record, something of which I hope everyone who has contributed to that can be proud.

In my final two minutes, I want to reflect on someone who enabled me to be in this place today, Pamela Day, who passed away on 5 December 2023. Pam was a well-known fixture of the Bassendean community. She campaigned in all three of the elections in which I have stood. I could not be here to vote for fairer paid parental leave if it weren't for Pam Day. She did countless days on various prepolls and she was one of the thousands of women who have campaigned across their lives for gender equality, equal pay and paid parental leave.

Pam was born all the way back on 4 March 1931. She grew up on a farm. She married her, now also late, partner, who was in the Air Force. They travelled around and they had a shared commitment to service. When he was out serving in the Australian Air Force, she was out on the ground campaigning, advocating for and supporting so many different causes.

In her professional career, Pam was a nurse and a social trainer, helping her fellow Western Australians wherever she could. It was no wonder that she campaigned for things she truly believed in, like paid parental leave. She campaigned for issues that were important to her, like voluntary assisted dying, the Uluru statement and, indeed, the sorts of measures we've been talking about today, like cheaper child care and paid parental leave, to make sure that we have more fairness for working women in this country.

I know that Stephen Smith would be appreciative, if he weren't in the employ of the government right now and unable to talk about such things, of the support that he received from Pam. I know Alannah MacTiernan and Tim Hammond also appreciate support from Pam, and I know myself and the member for Hasluck appreciate her support to be here and to vote for this piece of legislation. Vale, Pam Day.

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