Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister for Social Services. How will the Albanese Labor government's budget deliver cost-of-living support for new parents? How will the policy change help 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 Jagajaga for her question, because she has long been an advocate of extending paid parental leave, and I am so pleased that the Albanese government is delivering the biggest expansion to paid parental leave since Labor introduced it in 2011. By increasing the amount of government paid leave to six months by 2026 we are providing responsible cost-of-living relief to more Australian families. Our investment supports both parents to take more paid time out of work to care for their children, taking pressure off household budgets. Not only will it help families to better balance work and care; it will also support participation and productivity, providing an economic dividend to the Australian economy.

I am pleased that our changes have been widely welcomed across family groups, gender advocacy groups, employers and unions alike. The ACTU said that the increase to 26 weeks is 'a great step forward for Australian parents, particularly working women'. Jennifer Westacott, from the Business Council of Australia, said that the expansion 'doesn't just help make a fairer society; it's also a major economic reform that will help raise workforce participation and boost productivity'. The Parenthood said that this is 'a significant improvement' after 'no meaningful change to the policy' over the last decade. Minderoo's Thrive by Five Foundation said the government's changes 'will benefit parents, infants, employers, employees and the Australian economy'. And Sam Mostyn, President of Chief Executive Women, welcomed this much-needed expansion.

Our changes are pretty significant. They make our paid parental leave more modern and more flexible, and, of course, they extend it. One of the key changes means that all parents can access government paid leave at the same time as their employer paid leave. Under the current scheme, this is not available to recipients of dad and partner pay. The reason for this is that members on this side of the House want to encourage families to get the support they need from both government and their employers, and I hope that those opposite will support all changes to our paid parental leave, all elements including this one.

Of course, it wasn't long ago that those opposite, when they were in government, accused mothers who wanted to take both government leave and their employer leave of being frauds, of being double-dippers, telling those women they were rorters. This was a terrible attitude to take to Australian families. This side of the House takes it seriously. We seriously want to support families at the time of having their newborn baby.

Kylea Tink (North Sydney, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Aged Care: In last night's budget the government outlined the pressures Australians are under following multiple crises—COVID, natural disasters—as well as forecasting the dire cost-of-living pressures to come. Indeed, in the past year alone, two million Australians have accessed Medicare funded psychology sessions. Can the minister please explain to us and to those in the community who need mental health support why the budget did not include an extension of the vital additional 10 Medicare funded psychology sessions, which will now expire at the end of December?

Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for North Sydney for her question and for her deep understanding of and engagement in health policy in her time in this parliament. As the member pointed out, for some time, there have been an additional 10 sessions available under the Better Access program under Medicare as part of the COVID response, and that has been taken up quite substantially across the country.

We included $2.6 billion in last night's budget for COVID measures, which will take us up to 31 December, by and large. That includes the extension of the COVID national partnership agreement that the Prime Minister concluded with premiers and chief ministers at his first National Cabinet meeting, and a range of other measures going to the need to replenish the National Medical Stockpile. But a range of measures beyond 31 December are still being considered by the government, and arrangements for Better Access in 2023 are one of those measures about which we will have more to say in coming weeks. The government is considering that and a number of other COVID measures that currently expire on 31 December. Many of them were intended to expire on 30 June or 30 September under arrangements put in place by the former government, but I'm very alive to the views of the APS, the Australian Psychological Society, about this, about patients, about the current Better Access arrangements. We're looking at it very deeply in terms of what will be in place for 2023.

More broadly, in relation to Better Access, there is—as I'm sure the member is aware—an evaluation underway that was commenced by the former government, as was appropriate. The last deep evaluation of the Better Access program hadn't taken place for more than 10 years. The final report on Better Access is not due until probably December, maybe a bit after that, and we'll have a look at longer term arrangements in light of that very deep evaluation of Better Access, which I know has had very strong support in the sector. But I assure the member that, in relation to the 10 additional sessions that were put in place as part of the COVID response, we are looking at that closely, along with a range of other COVID measures that currently expire on 31 December. GP respiratory clinics and a number of others are in that category. We'll have more to say about that in coming weeks, and I'd certainly welcome a further discussion with the member about her perspective on this.