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

I thank the member for Chisholm for her supplementary question. This policy of the government is helping families. We have had a lot of feedback from the community—and I know the member for Chisholm has as well—because more than 80,000 Australian families have already received their paid parental leave, so they have been writing to the Prime Minister and to me to indicate exactly how this has helped them. I will quote from one mother who wrote to the Prime Minister. She said: 'I wanted to express my deepest thanks for paid parental leave. If I had not received it, I would already be back at work by now and would have missed so much of my baby daughter's development.' Another one said, 'I thank you for the PPL scheme,' the Paid Parental Leave scheme. She talked about her baby spending her first year full time with her adoring mum and how this has really helped her develop. These are the stories we are getting. We are also hearing from those opposite and of course the friend of the Leader of the Opposition Peter Reith, who has told him his scheme does not make even the slightest bit of sense. The Leader of the Opposition has no support for his paid parental leave scheme because it is going to break the bank.

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