Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very happy to speak on this piece of legislation, the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Improvements for Families and Gender Equality) Bill 2022. Just listening to the shadow minister, I find it quite extraordinary; he shows the front and chutzpah of the coalition. You'd think they'll start taking credit for Medicare, the NDIS, the NBN and a whole range of initiatives of Labor. I must say, they had three prime ministers during their nine years. They had Tony Abbott, whose thought bubble was an extraordinary idea—trying to get rid of what he thought was a 'woman problem' in terms of his relationship with female voters. So he came up with his ridiculous idea of a paid parental leave scheme that had virtually no support from any of the women's groups in this country. Then there were two subsequent prime ministers who didn't follow Prime Minister Abbott and bring in these types of legislation. So, don't give us history lessons, when you had two prime ministers on the coalition Treasury benches who didn't bring in a paid parental leave scheme, and don't try to claim that somehow it was your paid parental leave scheme—when we actually brought it in, under the Gillard government. What an amazing degree of historical revisionism goes on in the heads of those opposite in relation to this issue. It's amazing. It's simply astonishing, that you're going to take credit for things we did—when you opposed them, for heaven's sake!

I'm looking forward to the next two years, to hear those opposite taking credit for so many other Labor initiatives—perhaps Blue Poles or something like that; they may take credit for that initiative under Gough Whitlam, or a whole range of initiatives under Andrew Fisher, the Labor Prime Minister back in the early 20th century, or income tax reform. Chifley and Curtin will be turning in their graves over the credit the coalition government takes. So, thank goodness for those opposite—naysayers in government and naysayers in opposition and then trying to take credit for things that Labor governments do.

By the way, there are 2,554 families in my electorate of Blair who'll benefit as a result of this particular initiative. We know that, because they got paid parental leave payments last year. So, they'll benefit, at least. And there'll be more, who'll get additional assistance by virtue of the flexibility and choice that this legislation and subsequent legislation will provide to their family life. Those opposite go on about family values. Well, this is about family values, I can tell you. This is about helping families. This gives families choice and flexibility and it helps them in their local domestic decision-making. Those opposite love to parade themselves as champions of family values. But when it comes to supporting families with financial support and these types of things, they'll take credit from when they were in government, when they did nothing about it.

I'm very pleased to see this legislation, because families come in different shapes and sizes, and they come in different forms. There are not just nuclear families; there are flexible families. There are blended families. There are families in the LGBTIQ community. There's a whole range of different families and different forms that they take. So, this is particularly important. It also recognises that dads are very important carers for young children. About one in five children is, by the age of two, primarily bonded to their father. We also recognise that women are often high-income earners. The minister pointed that out in her second reading speech, where she talked about 3,000 additional parents getting a benefit as a result of this reform because the mother is the primary income earner in the family.

So, this is particularly important. The current settings have obstacles and hindrances to decision-making in family life and the flexibility that families need. Currently the paid parental leave scheme really comprises two payments for eligible carers of a newborn or a recently adopted child. We're talking about an 18-week payment for the birth parent, while the dad and partner leave is two weeks for fathers and partners. The paid parental leave may be taken in conjunction with the employer paid leave, but dad and partner pay cannot.

There's a need for parents to benefit from these changes to be able to spend more time with their children, to maintain their connection to the workplace—that's good for workforce participation amongst men but particularly women. International experiences show more paid leave results in an increase in the number of hours and the time taken by partners, particularly dads, in looking after their children. That's a very important significant reform that we're talking about today that will change the lives of lots of Australians.

Lots of times we pass legislation in this place and it has a peripheral impact, a minor impact—for example, customs regulation reforms, statute law revisions and a whole range of things that don't seem to have that much impact on families individually. But there are thousands of families in every electorate around the country that will benefit from these changes. That's absolutely important. Promoting gender equality is also absolutely crucial, and it's an important part of this bill.

The purpose of this bill is a commitment of over $531 million by this government—the biggest expansion of the Paid Parental Leave scheme since its introduction in 2011. That's 12 years ago. We had those opposite infesting the treasury bench for nine years and doing nothing about it—presiding but not governing. This is important; it is about flexibility and assistance for families individually. Our party, now the party of government, is better for having a strong and meaningful commitment to equal representation and equal opportunity for women. When you look at this side of the chamber, compared to the other side of the chamber, you can see that is the case.

You can also see that—and it is true for the economy and for our nation—equality for women is at the heart of the Albanese government's vision for a fair go for work. It was at the centre of our first budget. Equal, full and respectful participation of women in our economy is our nation's greatest untapped resource. This is why the October budget delivered the biggest boost to PPL we've ever seen.

This budget and this bill will implement the first of a couple of tranches of reform. It will go a long way to gender neutrality claim rules governing PPL. By 2026 we will see every family with a new baby be able to access a total of six months paid leave under legislation this government will bring in, at the national minimum wage shared between two parents—choice, decision-making, individuals and families making those decisions. Single parents will also be entitled to the full 26-week leave payable so their kids don't miss out as well. These changes will be part of a second tranche.

The purpose of this bill is combining the PPL, 18 weeks, and the dad and partner leave, two weeks created, into a single parental leave payment available for 20 weeks, with two weeks reserved on a use-it-or-lose-it basis for each claimant. It removes the requirement that the primary claimant of the PPL must be the birth parent. It allows claimants to take the payment flexibility within two years of birth or adoption. It introduces a $350,000 family income limit under which families can be assessed if they do not meet the individual income test, which is about $156,000 at the moment. This is really important. It will benefit about 181,000 families, and around 4,300 people will gain access to what they are ineligible for under the current scheme.

It's important to note that the change in this bill commences on 1 July this year—just the first step. From 1 July 2024, the government will start expanding the scheme with two additional weeks a year until the scheme reaches its full 26 weeks from July 2026. The government has sought advice from the independent Women's Economic Equality Taskforce, chaired by Sam Mostyn, on the optimal model for increasing the scheme to 26 weeks and on what mix of flexible weeks and the use-it-or-lose-it component for each parent will deliver the best outcome for families and encourage more shared parenting. That's crucial. We see that in our family law legislation, about the need for children to be cared for by both parents regardless of their parents' marital status and by other people significant to their care, welfare and development. This legislation picks up that notion. This second tranche will be legislated later and done in a fiscally responsible manner.

The reality is that the current scheme doesn't do enough to provide access to dads and encourage them to take parental leave. While it enables mothers to take PPL at the same time as employer paid leave, this option is not currently available, as I said, to fathers and partners, so there's that limit on flexibility. The bill fixes up this issue, so both parents will be able to take the PPL at the same time as employer paid leave.

The bill means more families can take up this leave, sharing their precious time more equally in care responsibilities, and that's absolutely crucial. Those of us who are parents know how important our children are. As, I'm sure, does everyone here, I remember when my daughters were born as though it was yesterday, and the fact is that I've got a little grandson now. That love, that respect and that affection comes straightaway. Parents want to care for their kids; they want to spend time with them. My youngest daughter, Jacqui, said to me the other day that, because of that bonding between parent and child, she misses her son, Joshua, when he goes and has a sleep. Spending time with their kids is the sort of thing that parents want to be able to make decisions about, and this legislation will assist in that regard.

The government values men and, as someone who practised as an accredited specialist in family law, I can tell you I did hundreds of cases involving men winning what we used to call custody and being the primary caregiver for children. Dads can be great parents, and I saw it many, many times in private practice as a lawyer. Dads are so important, not just in those circumstances but as role models in caring and as examples of hands-on giving, showing kids how to play sport and music and how to be respectful men and grow up to be decent human beings. All of those things are so important for little kids. They are important as children grow and learn. In the first two or three years of a child's life you can see how much they absorb and take in and how much they learn, so that time is so precious. The government really wants fathers to take a greater role from the start, and this legislation will benefit dads, mums and kids.

We know it's important to participate. We know participation is important for productivity. A lot of times in this place we use language that seems to be about economics, and solely economics—and I studied economics at university as well. It's so important because we're running a nation, running an economy and running a community. But families are the basis of our society. They're the absolute hub. They make decisions about where they send their kids to school, what extracurricular activities they engage in and what faith they adhere to or don't adhere to. They make decisions about all of those things each and every day. Sometimes it's mundane. Sometimes it's what food we put on the table at night. Sometimes it's where we have a holiday or what sport or cultural activity our kids will participate in.

This legislation here today is the sort which assists parents to make decisions each and every day of their lives and provides some security for them. We know relationships break up. We know that about 50 per cent of second relationships and one in three first relationships break up, so we want to give as much support as possible. There are real pressure times, in terms of domestic and family relationship break-ups, and one of those times is when your kids are really, really small. We want to support families in that way. We don't want to tell people who they partner with and how they live their lives, but we want to make sure that they have the greatest opportunity to participate in the lives of their children and be the best parents they can possibly be.

The burden of child care is disproportionately borne by women at the moment. That needs to change. In a modern policy—that is, for the modern family unit that we all see in our electorates—we need to have the legislation and a paid parental leave scheme that are reflective of modern Australia, to give choice and greater security and, I think, aspiration to families. This is something that Labor has consistently championed. With this legislation that we have before the chamber today, I'm proud to be a Labor MP; I really am. Seeing legislation like this introduced here, I'm proud to be the member for Blair and a Labor MP. It's good social policy. It's good Labor reform. It's good women's policy. It's good policy for men. It's also good economic and workplace reform and good for participation.

I commend this legislation to the chamber and I thank the minister for bringing it in. It's great to see that it's a Labor government doing the great reforms that are needed to help families in this country. We'll continue to uphold their aspirations for local, individual family units.

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