Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Social Services. How is the Albanese Labor government strengthening and expanding the Paid Parental Leave scheme, and how will this support Australian families?

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

I'd like to thank the member for Hawke for his question. I recognise that, along with many families, he is acutely aware of the challenges but also the joys of parenthood as a result of the recent arrival of baby Macaulay. So I take this opportunity to congratulate him.

Supporting families is a key plank of the Albanese government's first budget. Increasing paid parental leave was one of the most frequent proposals raised to boost workforce participation at our recent Jobs and Skills Summit, because boosting paid parental leave not only better supports families at the time of the birth of a baby but also is critical to supporting women's workforce participation. Of course, the Albanese government has listened and responded in this budget to be delivered tonight, which will include the biggest expansion to paid parental leave since Labor introduced it in 2011.

In addition to this, the government has responded to the calls of many families to make sure that this scheme is modern and strengthened and actually meets the flexibilities that many families need. That's why the changes that we will make in the budget tonight will give more than 180,000 families more choice about how they balance work and family. From 1 July 2023, we will implement changes to modernise paid parental leave and make it more accessible for both parents. We will move to a single scheme that will allow all parents to access government paid leave at the same time as employer paid leave. Currently, this is available only to mums, not dads. We will encourage families to share care, with an easier claiming process that will allow either parent to take leave first and removes the assumptions about mothers and fathers being both primary and secondary carers. We will expand the eligibility with a more generous household income test of $350,000, which families can be assessed under if they exceed the individual income test of around $156,000. Then, from 1 July 2024, we will add two additional weeks a year until the scheme reaches 26 weeks in July 2026.

These are positive changes that will make families' lives better. The Albanese government's new Paid Parental Leave scheme will be good for parents, good for kids, good for women, good for employers and good for the economy. This is just one of the many measures that the Albanese government is taking through our budget to make it better, fairer and stronger for Australian families.