Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Disability Reform) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Chisholm very much for her question and for her support, especially for paid parental leave. She understands, like everybody on this side of the House, why it is so important to give parents that extra support through paid parental leave when a new baby comes into the home. This government is all about getting things done, especially getting things done to support families. That is why we have delivered paid parental leave. I can inform the House that, from today, more than 140,000 families around Australia are benefiting from paid parental leave. We said we would deliver paid parental leave, and we have. We said we would deliver paid parental leave without an extra tax on business, and we have.

I am asked by the member for Chisholm what the biggest risks to paid parental leave in this country are. The biggest risk to paid parental leave is sitting right there. The Leader of the Opposition famously said when he was in government that paid parental leave would happen over his dead body. But now we know this Leader of the Opposition wants to introduce what has been called by his own side a 'Rolls-Royce system' of paid parental leave. This Leader of the Opposition not only will not deliver paid parental leave; he cannot deliver it, because he has got a $70 billion black hole, and his paid parental leave costs $4.5 billion a year, which he is going to pay for with a new tax on business. He wants to turn his back and look the other way, because he knows—

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