Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to sum up by thanking all those who have contributed to the important debate on the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Improvements for Families and Gender Equality) Bill 2022. As I've said before in this place, improving paid parental leave is a critical nation-building reform. It's critical for families, it's critical for women and it's critical for the economy. Paid parental leave is a proud Labor legacy, and the Albanese government is building and expanding on that legacy. The number of government and non-government members who have spoken on these reforms over the course of the debate shows how important this issue is to so many Australians. At the Jobs and Skills Summit in September, unions and businesses jointly articulated the importance of investing in paid parental leave and the benefits for women's workforce participation and economic growth. The Albanese government listened and took action, committing half a billion dollars in the October budget to improve the scheme and expand it to six months by 2026. We've wasted no time delivering on this commitment.

The changes in this bill modernise paid parental leave so that it is right for the time and right for the future. We know that dads and partners want more time at home with their baby. We know that parents want flexibility in how they choose to take leave and transition back to work. We know that the current eligibility rules are unfair to families where the mother is the higher income earner. This bill fixes those problems. It gives more families access to the payment, provides parents with more flexibility in how they take their leave and encourages them to share care to support gender equality.

From 1 July 2023 the government is improving the paid parental leave scheme by: combining the two existing payments into a single 20-week scheme, reserving two weeks of leave for each parent to support them both to take time off work, making it easier for both parents to access the payment by removing the notion of 'primary' and 'secondary' carers; expanding access to around 3,000 more families each year by introducing a new $350,000 family income test; expanding access to around 1,500 more dads and partners each year through a new, simpler claiming process; and increasing flexibility for parents to choose how they take the government paid leave and transition back to work. It is critical that this bill passes both houses by 9 March to ensure that parents who are expecting to give birth or adopt after 1 July 2023 have the opportunity of pre-claiming three months in advance.

I thank the government and non-government members for their positive engagement with me and my office on this bill. I note that the bill is currently before the Community Affairs Legislation Committee, which will deliver its report by 24 February, ahead of the Senate's consideration in early March. I'd like to thank those senators and the committee secretariat for their work and particularly acknowledge the Chair, Senator Marielle Smith. I'd also like to thank everyone who made a written submission to the inquiry.

I'm very pleased to see the strong support for the bill from a diverse range of employer, union and community groups in their submissions, including UNICEF Australia, the Australian Institute of Family Studies, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Salvation Army, the Australian Human Rights Commission, the Global Institute for Women's Leadership, and Diversity Council Australia. As many of these organisations noted, this bill is a crucial step towards a parental leave scheme that empowers the full and equal participation of women. It implements the first tranche of the government's half-billion-dollar investment in paid parental leave. The reform is being legislated in two stages so that the critical structural changes in the bill can commence as early as possible, with families who are expecting to give birth on or after 1 July 2023 able to pre-claim from late March.

I look forward to bringing another bill to the parliament later this year to legislate the second tranche of the government's reform plan, the expansion of the scheme to 26 weeks, which will commence from 1 July 2024. The Women's Economic Equality Taskforce is currently examining the best model for the expansion to 26 weeks and will provide advice to the government later this year. The changes in this bill and expansion to 26 weeks demonstrates the government's commitment to deliver better outcomes for families and advance women's economic equality. Around 180,000 families each year will benefit from a fairer, more flexible and more generous scheme. The Albanese government is committed to a paid parental leave scheme that supports modern Australian families. That's what this bill delivers, and I commend the bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.

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