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

To allow for three hours of debate, allowing all senators to participate in that on this important bill—just to be clear, this bill is actually about amending the Fair Work Act, and it only relates to employer funded paid parental leave if a child is stillborn or dies. Its origins are in the parents of Baby Priya, who lived for six weeks after her birth, and, when she passed away, her mother's parental leave was cancelled by her employer. She had worked there for 11 years, and her father's parental leave continued. Those very brave parents felt that it was unfair that the mother lost her parental leave, and this bill responds to that. It recognises that the loss of a baby is devastating for parents and that, if there's a way to respond, in Baby Priya's name and with the bravery of her parents, to seek legislative reform that would allow a mother, in the exact same experience as what's Baby Priya's mother endured, to grieve and to have an entitlement to grieve through that period of what would have been her parental leave—that's what this bill is about. We believe three hours is plenty of time for senators who would like to participate, just as Senator Canavan and others have, but let's not lose focus on what the bill actually is.

I know there has been a fair bit of attention about what this bill is not. But this bill is about amending the Fair Work Act so that where parental leave exists for parents in the private sector—not related to Commonwealth paid parental leave, which doesn't cancel in those circumstances—parents will be entitled to continue to receive parental leave. That's what the bill's about. And, if passage isn't completed by one o'clock, that still will have been three hours of debate for this chamber. I move:

That the question be now put.