Libby Coker (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Superannuation is particularly important for women. We know that women over 55 are the group most vulnerable to homelessness, and this is unacceptable. The reforms have been driven by our Labor caucus, which, for the first time ever, proudly, has a majority of women. Our Labor government is absolutely committed to advancing equity and opportunity for women. Let us remember that, until 1972, around a decade before I entered the workforce, no major party had a women's policy, let alone a robust paid parental scheme. It was only under Labor, led by former prime minister Gough Whitlam, and his women's adviser, Elizabeth Reid, that a revolution for women's rights began.

Since then, our society has made significant strides in gender equality, but women still do the lion's share of nurturing and caring for children across our nation. For example, data shows that, only two years ago, women accounted for nearly 90 per cent of primary parental leave, yet 91 per cent of organisations do not discriminate between men and women taking parental leave. Over the past 40 years, there have been significant changes in the composition of Australia's active workforce. There have been large increases in the employment participation of women, who comprised 48 per cent of the total employed in 2022, compared to 36 per cent in 1979. Australian Bureau of Statistics data reveals that the most common reason women were unavailable to start a job or work more hours was caring for children. While we celebrate the incredible nurturing spirit of women, we must work together to create equitable opportunities for everyone: mums, dads and all parents.

Making life easier and more productive for Australian parents is critical reform. This is why paid parental leave reform was a centrepiece of our first budget, where we invested half a billion dollars to expand the scheme to six months by 2026. This is the largest investment in paid parental leave since Labor established it in 2011, benefiting over 180,000 families each year. Many in my community would remember that, in the past, dads were only able to take government paid leave at roughly half the rate of mums. The scheme was built on the gendered assumptions of primary and secondary carers, which limits parents' ability to share care. Our reforms have addressed that anomaly, and this bill we speak on today further addresses these issues by implementing the second tranche of our government's paid parental leave reform, announced in the 2022-23 October budget. It follows the first tranche we legislated at the start of the year to modernise the scheme to reflect how Australian families and their needs have changed over the past decade. These changes, which commenced on 1 July, have given more families access to payment, given parents more flexibility in how they take their leave and encouraged parents to share pay. This is a strong foundation and will help parents across our nation.

This bill does many things. It builds on our commitment to support young families who are struggling to make ends meet. We know that raising a family can be expensive. It often means young people are unable to buy a house when they raise children. That's why, alongside our expansion of paid parental leave, we are working with states and territories to deliver the Help to Buy scheme, supporting up to 40,000 families in purchasing a home of their own. This will bring homeownership back into reach for thousands of families who have been locked out of the housing market. The Albanese government has already helped more than 50,000 Australians into homeownership through the Home Guarantee Scheme, including more than 6,000 through the new Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee.

It is important to raise a couple of the things that are taking place in this bill. The bill will provide flexibility by increasing the number of weeks where parents can take paid parental leave at the same time. All in all, our reforms strike an important balance in increasing support for mums and encouraging dads as well. Many in my community will remember that men really do not get the same amount of time with children, and we want to see that both parents have an opportunity to play an active role at a critical time when children are so young. It makes such a difference to parents. So we are looking forward to being able to offer all families this opportunity. It means that more families will have roofs over their heads for their children, and our expansion of paid parental leave will help do this as well.

In closing, the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (More Support for Working Families) Bill 2023 reaffirms Labor's commitment to paid parental leave. It is good for parents, it is good for kids and it is good for the wellbeing of families. It is good for employers and, importantly, it is good for our economy. I commend the bill to the House.

See this speech in context