Kylea Tink (North Sydney, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Warringah for her motion to acknowledge and address the inadequacies in Australia's paid parental leave and early childhood education systems, and I'm grateful to be able to speak on behalf of the people of North Sydney. Initially introduced in 2011, in its broadest context the Australian Paid Parental Leave scheme is one of the least adequate in the developed world. The Paid Parental Leave Bill 2010 offers families up to just 20 weeks of paid leave at a minimum wage. Of those 20 weeks, 18 are allocated to the primary carer, whilst the remaining two weeks are offered as dad and partner pay. Reflecting on that for just a moment: the mere fact that this pay is referred to as 'dad' or 'partner' pay immediately relegates the father in a parenting situation to the lesser of the two carers. This is unacceptable.

Comparing this scheme to those of our OECD peers, it's clear Australian families are missing out and our society is lagging as a consequence. On average, families in the OECD are typically entitled to over 50 weeks of paid leave. That's 2½ times more than we offer here in Australia. In Finland, new parents each have access to seven months paid leave. Policies such as these have been linked with better development outcomes for children and support a more balanced division of labour between two-parent families.

The reality is parental leave policy settings have a significant and wide-ranging impact on families, children, women, the economy and, ultimately, society as a whole. Significantly, they also reduce the employability gap between men and women in the workforce. If an employer is looking at either a male or a female candidate with the same expectation that they will, or could, take a significant amount of paid parental leave, the idea of employing one over the other to avoid this time out is ultimately removed. By encouraging both parents to share the responsibility of caring for young children, we can fundamentally shift a cultural paradigm which currently frequently forces women into the primary caring role, regardless of what a family may desire.

To be clear, I'm not saying that to be a primary carer is not the noblest of paths. Being a mother to my three children is undoubtedly the most incredible, rewarding and fundamental experience of my life. What I am saying is that paid parental leave offered here in Australia must allow families the maximum support and the ultimate choice of who the primary carer is and when. As the Grattan Institute noted in a report last year, greater sharing of child care is one of best ways to improve women's economic security.

Along with paid parental leave improvements, we need to ensure that families have access to quality and affordable care to allow those that either wish, or need, to return to work to do so. The most recent census data tells me there are 110,000 families living in my electorate of North Sydney and the electorate immediately to my north. There are almost 9,000 young children under the age of five and a further 9½ thousand children aged between five and 10 who need supervision when not at school. For this population there are only 140 childcare, day care and after-school care facilities. That's at least 65 children per centre. From my conversations with childcare operators, workers and parents, it's clear that more federal government leadership, coordination and support is needed.

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From my conversations with childcare operators across North Sydney and with workers and parents, it's clear that more federal government leadership, coordination and support is needed. Childcare centres are struggling with skills shortages, while existing workers are overwhelmed and underpaid. Meanwhile, families cannot find spaces and affordability is a massive issue, with some facing fees of up to $200 a day. As one North Sydney parent put it to me: 'I've worked extremely hard to work in a management position in the tech industry. My inability to get back to work due to my inability to gain child care is detrimental to myself and also to the perception of women and mothers in the workforce, something that needs to change.'

Despite very positive conversations in this chamber today, the reality is that our current government has no plans to address the inadequacy of our paid parental leave program. In fact, we heard earlier this morning from the member for Bendigo that one of the reasons that can't be addressed is that it would take at least 50 weeks to bring about significant changes. It takes 40 weeks to make a new human being and just $600 million to enable us to meet the desires of our community to have 26 weeks paid parental leave. I not only support this motion; I urge the government to heed it and step into what is an unacceptable situation here in Australia.

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