Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Social Services. How is the Albanese Labor government supporting families who have recently welcomed a new baby, what cost-of-living relief is being rolled out to Australian families from today, and are there any risks to this support?

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

I'd like to thank the member for Robertson for that question. He knows, as we all do, that the arrival of a new baby is a very special time for a family. It's a time when parents require support to step back from paid work so they can focus on caring for their newborn. We also know it's a time that can place extra pressure on the family budget. That's why Labor's investment in paid parental leave is so critical. It provides families with extra support so they can focus on what's important to them.

From today, families are eligible for two extra weeks of paid parental leave, as the government scheme increases from 20 to 22 weeks. This means, over the course of their leave, families will now receive $20,150 to help them take time off work and cover some of the costs that come with a new baby. And we're not stopping there. We are further expanding the scheme to 26 weeks, and we will legislate superannuation on top of this. Our changes have been widely welcomed by families and advocates. The Parenthood, a leading parent advocacy group, said, 'Significant improvement, after no meaningful change to the policy over a decade, is welcome.' Playgroup Australia said, 'It's such a relief to see this policy finally come to fruition in Australia.'

Also from today, around 1.3 million low- to middle-income families will receive some extra relief, with a boost to their rate of family tax benefit. In addition, every household will see their power bill cut by $300 and every Australian will benefit from a freeze on the cost of PBS medicines. This is how you deliver cost-of-living relief, not by pushing up power prices with expensive nuclear reactors.

Those opposite pose a risk to Australian families through not only their expensive, risky nuclear folly but also their track record of cutting family payments through imposing year-on-year indexation freezes when they were last in government. They tried to deny families the ability to take both government and employer paid parental leave, calling them double dippers. It's only this side of politics that has a plan to deliver responsible and meaningful cost-of-living relief now—including, of course, tax cuts to every single Australian taxpayer starting from today. This will make a real difference to the 13.6 million taxpayers. We're giving them relief right now. This is good news for Australian families and this is good news for Australian taxpayers.

Milton Dick (Speaker) | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business?

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask the minister to table the document she was reading from.

Milton Dick (Speaker) | Link to this | Hansard source

The Minister for Home Affairs is now warned. That is a completely inappropriate statement. Was the minister reading from confidential documents?

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

Yes.

Milton Dick (Speaker) | Link to this | Hansard source

Deputy Leader of the Opposition, that's disrespectful as well.