Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to the member for Monash for your comments. It sounds like you would like to have a case about unpaid work at home. I welcome you to introduce a bill to the House if you would like to do that! I will also point out my family circumstances: I'm married, I have a husband and my husband is the lead parent. I have to say that I think that we are equally good parents; if anything, my husband's an excellent lead parent. I think the perception that women are the natural nurturers is something that needs to be challenged and I think that modern men are rising up to the challenge. We need to see more of that, and I am very grateful for the great work my husband is doing at home.

Last year, Australians wanted to change the country, so they changed the government. There were a couple of key issues in some electorates, including integrity in government, action on climate change and women's rights. Under the coalition government, the rights of women were undermined, and I suspect this was because the coalition was run by a bunch of misogynists. Abbott thought the housewives of Australia were stuck at home ironing. Turnbull's attitudes were more modern, but he did need to implement the 'bonk ban'. And then we have the member for Cook, who, despite having a wife and daughter, didn't quite get it. In fact, I spoke to a woman who was previously a Liberal candidate, and she could not bring herself to vote for the Liberals in the last election. The Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government had a tin ear when it came to challenges that face women—and boy have there been some challenges.

On International Women's Day this year, the status of women report card was released. Despite some minor progress, we are still seeing economic disparity between men and women, and that persists. And it's not for lack of effort either. Women do two more hours of work than men per week. That's 55 hours a week, and 34.7 of these hours are unpaid. Also, Australian women are well educated. Sixty-three per cent have postschool qualifications, and 35 per cent have bachelor degrees, which is fourth place in of the OECD countries.

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