Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Whiteaker for that excellent question. It is probably appropriate to note that here in the Senate 56.6 per cent of senators are women and, on our side, 65 per cent of senators are women. We strongly believe in gender equality and representation in leadership. We have seen that across our caucus. That influenced some of the decisions that we took in the last term. We will continue to have women and women's economic equality and addressing gender inequality as a core and central priority for the Albanese Labor government.

From 1 July, on top of the measures that I outlined before, including the increase to the minimum wage, we are seeing an increase in paid parental leave to 24 weeks. We are now having super paid on PPL, which is for the first time ever. That will again help women with some of the pressures they have been getting there. The Commonwealth prac placements and HECS debt— (Time expired)