Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That these bills be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speeches incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speeches read as follows—

MIGRATION AMENDMENT (STRENGTHENING THE CHARACTER TEST) BILL 2019

The purpose of the Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test) Bill 2019 is to strengthen the current legislative framework in relation to visa refusals and cancellations on character grounds. This Bill ensures that non-citizens who have been convicted of serious offences, and who pose a risk to the safety of the Australian community, are appropriately considered for visa refusal or cancellation. The Bill presents a clear message to all non-citizens that the Australian community has no tolerance for foreign nationals who have been convicted of such crimes.

The number of people crossing the Australian border is rapidly increasing, and while this brings overwhelmingly positive benefits for our country, it also enables threats to our security. Australia is an accessible and attractive destination to visit, to do business and to live. We are a welcoming, multicultural, open and cohesive society. At the same time, we need to ensure that we remain safe and secure.

Consistent with community views and expectations, the Australian Government has a low tolerance for criminal behaviour. Entry and stay in Australia by non-citizens is a privilege, not a right, and the Australian community expects that the Australian Government can and should refuse entry to non-citizens, or cancel their visas, if they do not abide by the rule of law. Those who choose to break the law and fail to uphold the standards of behaviour expected by the Australian community should expect to lose that privilege.

Following 115 public submissions, the Joint Standing Committee on Migration's report on migrant settlement outcomes titled 'No one teaches you to become an Australian' noted that strengthening the character provisions will make Australians feel safer and be safer. The Committee has more recently urged the Government to pass and enact this Bill in their report on review processes associated with visa cancellations made on criminal grounds, noting this important legislation addresses community concerns around non-citizens who commit acts of violence in Australia.

The Bill will amend section 501 of the Migration Act to provide that a person will objectively not pass the character test if the person has been convicted of a designated offence which carries a maximum sentence of not less than 2 years. I and my delegates within the Department will then have the discretion to consider cancelling or refusing a visa on that basis.

By strengthening the character test in this way, I and my delegates will have a clear and objective ground with which to consider cancelling the visa of, or refusing to grant a visa to, a non-citizen who has been convicted of offences that involve:

In making a decision to refuse or cancel a visa on this ground, the Department will need to take into account a wide range of factors contained within a binding Ministerial Direction, that include:

In summary, this Bill sends a clear and unequivocal message on behalf of the Australian community—that entry or stay in Australia is a privilege, granted only to those of good character. Like the Australian community, the Government has no tolerance for non-citizens who are found to have committed these serious crimes. We make no apologies for protecting the Australian community from these harmful people, and we will act quickly whenever we are made aware of it.

I commend this Bill to the house.

PAID PARENTAL LEAVE AMENDMENT (WORK TEST) BILL 2019

The Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Work Test) Bill 2019 (the Bill) introduces changes to the work test for Paid Parental Leave aimed at better supporting working mothers to access the Paid Parental Leave scheme.

There are around 300,000 births in Australia each year, with nearly half of all new mothers accessing Paid Parental Leave. The scheme provides eligible working parents with 18 weeks of payment at a rate based on the national minimum wage, currently $740.60 per week—a total of $13,330.80 over 18 weeks.

The Australian Government understands the important role of Paid Parental Leave in supporting the health and wellbeing of mothers and babies and in encouraging workforce participation. To this end, the measure in this Bill is designed to support more working mothers to access Paid Parental Leave.

The Government considers that working parents should be entitled to paid leave to spend important bonding time with their newborn or newly adopted child in those important early months. This Bill provides for a more generous work test to make it fairer for women who have a long and genuine working history yet still often fail the work test because of the industry in which they are employed.

From 1 January 2020, a longer break between two working days will be allowed under the Paid Parental Leave work test rules.

To meet the current Paid Parental Leave work test, a parent must have worked 330 hours in 10 of the 13 months before the child's date of birth. A parent can have a break of up to eight weeks between two working days in this period and still satisfy the present work test.

In some professions, such as teaching, there may routinely be a longer break between two work days, which prevents mothers from accessing

Parental Leave Pay, despite having a legitimate attachment to the workforce.

For example, it is not uncommon for casual teachers to finish work a week or two early towards the end of a school year. However, if these teachers do not recommence work until a few weeks into the next school term, they could easily exceed the current eight week rule, even if they had worked continuously throughout the rest of the year.

So, although these hard working casual teachers have worked most of the previous 13 months before the birth of their child, they are unable to access Paid Parental Leave because of the design of the school year and miss out on up to 18 weeks' paid leave.

The Government believes that these working mothers should be entitled to paid leave to allow them time to recover from the birth, bond with their baby and receive the health and developmental benefits that the Paid Parental Leave scheme can help facilitate. Hopefully to return to teaching sometime in the future, with the important role of educating our children.

To address circumstances such as those faced by casual teachers, the permissible break between two working days will be increased to 12 weeks.

This change will make sure more women with a genuine connection to work are able to access the Government's Paid Parental Leave scheme.

It is estimated that this change will enable up to an additional 180 mothers to receive Paid Parental Leave each year.

To further enhance the fairness of the Paid Parental Leave system, the work test rules will also be modified to take into account circumstances where pregnant women are in occupations where it would be unsafe for them to continue working during their pregnancy, so that they are able to get Paid Parental Leave.

Currently, a pregnant woman may not meet the work test because she needs to cease work due to the hazardous nature of her job, despite the fact that she may have a long history and attachment to the workforce.

While most women are covered under the Fair Work Act 2009, which allows pregnant employees to move to a safe job or receive 'no safe job' leave, there are a small number of circumstances where women miss out. For example, construction workers, miners and jockeys often work on contracts and do not have employers who can provide them with alternative safe work.

To address these circumstances, women in these situations will have their work test period calculated from the date they ceased work due to the hazardous nature of their occupation, rather than from the date of the birth of their child.

For example, female jockeys are only able to work until the end of the first trimester, meaning they have to stop work 28 weeks before the expected birth of their child. Under the current eligibility rules, female jockeys are unable to access Paid Parental Leave unless they can find temporary employment in another industry.

Under the new rules, the work test would begin 392 days immediately before the day on which the mother ceased work because of the hazards in her job, meaning more jockeys and women in dangerous industries will now be eligible.

Allowing mothers in such situations to have the work test based on the date they had to stop work is estimated to help around 20 additional mothers per year access the scheme.

It was never the intention of the Paid Parental Leave scheme that a mother should miss out because the nature of her job poses a risk to her and her child's health.

These important changes to the Paid Parental Leave scheme are about improving the fairness of the current system and providing support for genuine working mothers.

I commend the Bill.

Debate adjourned.

Ordered that the bills be listed on the Notice Paper as separate orders of the day.