Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I am standing in support of the Fair Work Amendment (Baby Priya's) Bill 2025. I do so encouraged by the fact that we are having this debate in good faith, and with a bipartisanship that is probably all too rare for our parliament—we should have more of that. It is good to see that there is a genuine debate we are having around something that there is bipartisan support for.

All of us, on either side of the aisles, know that we are passing this because we want to make sure parents don't have to make that devastating choice between returning to work or giving themselves the space to heal post the loss of a child. I think we're all in agreement that no parent should have to be forced to return to work after enduring a stillbirth or the death of a child.

This bill delivers on our election commitment to legislate for that continued access of employer and paid parental leave for working parents dealing with stillbirth or early infant death. It removes the archaic sections out of the Fair Work Act which state that, where a child is stillborn or dies, an employer may give notice to cancel or reduce the leave period. Today we are changing that. Amendments in the bill will preserve entitlements to paid parental leave in situations of infant loss by preventing employers from either refusing to allow employees to take PPL or unilaterally cancelling approved periods of PPL. We've heard some disturbing stories on the news during the course of this debate about employers, who otherwise have had a great relationship with employees, suddenly deciding to cancel what had been approved periods of paid parental leave. One of the parents informed their employer and then was told that they had to come back to work in a couple of days; they were only entitled to two days of bereavement leave.

These changes include those who have had children through surrogacy or adoption arrangements as well. The bill is named after Baby Priya, who heartbreakingly died when she was just 42 days old. In the aftermath of Priya's loss, her mother was told that her paid parental leave was no longer available. It's the same story that so many parents have faced. Meanwhile, Baby Priya's father was allowed to take his full leave entitlement. The loss of a child is profoundly tragic. The fact that Baby Priya's mother had to return to work while she was still grieving that loss and that trauma is absolutely devastating.

In the darkest moment a family can have, Priya's parents were still able to muster the strength to highlight this devastating issue through an online petition which they organised, which was remarkable in the courage that they had, even in their darkest moment, to do that. That caught the attention of so many Australians. It was 30,000 people who signed that online petition. The issue reached the desks of key federal Labor ministers, and they knew they had to act. So, thanks to the tireless advocacy of Baby Priya's parents, this important issue will now be enshrined in legislation, and they take great credit for that effort.

We know no parent should have to go through what Priya's mum experienced. Unfortunately, we see the tragic loss in the statistics. Over 3,000 Australian babies died in the perinatal period in 2021. That's about six babies being stillborn every day and two dying within 28 days of birth. Behind every one of those deaths is a heartbreaking period of loss and mourning and grief by the families, with their lives being changed forever. When they face that unimaginable loss, often without the time or support they need to begin healing, it just compounds the grief and pain. So many of them find themselves navigating complex systems and unclear entitlements at a moment when they should be focusing solely on saying goodbye and caring for each other.

Fundamentally, it's important for parents to have certainty about their entitlements at such a difficult moment in their lives, a difficult period, giving them the time and space to grieve. Our government shares this belief, and that's why we've acted to safeguard employer paid parental leave entitlements. The government knows that women should never be faced with workplace insecurity if such a tragedy does strike. It's about enabling confident family and career planning. The bill is another step towards supporting women's long-term participation in the workforce. It ensures their skills and experience aren't lost to the economy when they take time to care or recover.

This reform to leave entitlements on paid parental leave forms part of a broader set of work that we are undertaking toward strengthening the rights and opportunities for women at every stage of their life through their working life. As a government, we've made these record investments to support women in this context as well—expanding paid parental leave to 26 weeks, making it more flexible to share between parents, paying superannuation on paid parental leave, making child care cheaper, opening 22 endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics with 11 more on the way, and investing over half a billion in women's health, including new measures on the PBS. These investments are not just figures in the budget; they demonstrate the intent to make a difference to women every day with respect to their quality of life and their health outcomes across Australia.

As the member for Bennelong noted, there's a lot of discussion here about statistics and numbers and percentages. I've just rattled off a few. I guess that's what we do here. But, as I said at the start of my remarks, the fact that there is bipartisan support across the aisle and there is support across the parliament for this bill is so encouraging. Our actions today make a difference. They go beyond the numbers. They're about honouring lives. They're about helping shape futures and doing what's right for people who experience this unthinkable tragedy in their lives.

Importantly, this bill honours young lives lost too soon. This legislation, when passed, is not going to take away the pain of those who are suffering and enduring the loss of an infant, of a child. It's not going to take that away; that's always going to be there. But it does acknowledge an important issue which affects thousands of Australian families each year. It does provide parents some sense of stability and certainty in their most difficult time. While you can make that time worse, by cancelling paid parental leave—that's one of the ways it happens—we are making sure that time is not worse and that at least they have that certainty.

There hasn't been that legal protection, up until now, to stop employers from cancelling PPL. For parents like Baby Priya's and for every family who has lost a child in that unthinkable way and had that experience, this is going to be a lasting legacy. Baby Priya's parents have been so instrumental in ensuring that occurs. It's a promise that no-one is going to face this pain alone and that they're not going to be forced back to work while they're still trying to survive the deepest loss imaginable. It honours the strength of Baby Priya's parents, whose real courage actually made this possible. It is going to make our workplaces fairer and more compassionate. For that, I commend this bill to the House.

The Federation Chamber transcript was published up to 12:11. The remainder of the transcript will be published progressively as it is completed.

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