Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Calwell for her question and for her long campaigning for paid parental leave, not just in her own electorate but across the country. When the government's paid parental leave scheme started on 1 January this year Australia finally caught up with the rest of the developed world. It has been a very, very long time coming. Australian families have waited decades for this historic reform. And of course it is a fundamental reform that was delivered by this Labor government, a reform that so many people in our community campaigned for and is now operating.

Since the scheme began 65,000 new and expecting parents have claimed parental leave. Right now more than 30,000 new parents are receiving the government's paid parental leave, so there are 30,000 families benefiting. The good news is that Australian businesses are also playing their part. Employers have been able to register since 1 January and also start providing government funded paid parental leave to their long-term employees. We now have more than 8,000 employers already registered and 400 employers playing their part, providing government funded paid parental leave to their employees. The employer role will be fully implemented from 1 July, so very soon we will have the full implementation of this part of the paid parental leave scheme—and I would encourage all employers to register and get ready for the benefits that will flow as they are able to provide paid parental leave to their long-term employees. I think we know, and employers who are already using the scheme know, it does provide great benefits to their employees. We know that women return to work after taking time off for their babies, and they are much more likely to do that if they receive paid parental leave.

We have also made sure that the scheme that we are establishing is as easy as possible for businesses. Business will get the money upfront. We will make sure that they get their money upfront from the government and that they are able to pay their employees using their usual pay cycle. They will not have to have any special accounts or any special reports. One of the things that the Minister for Human Services and I did yesterday was release a toolkit for employers so that they have more information available for them and they know what they can do from 1 July.

By contrast, of course, what we see from those opposite, from the Leader of the Opposition, is a policy that costs $4.5 billion a year and needs a new tax from the Leader of the Opposition to pay for it.

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