Corinne Mulholland (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor is the party of working families. Just one week from today, on 1 July, life gets that little bit easier for families right across the country. In one week, the Albanese government expands paid parental leave to a full six months. That's 26 weeks. Families receiving the full entitlement will see almost $30,000 in government funded paid parental leave payments for their families. That is more than double what families received before Labor came into government in 2022. From 1 July, the rate of payment rises to $1,004.70 per week.

We've also delivered superannuation on paid parental leave. That means parents keep earning superannuation while they're on their parental leave. We've also increased income limits, so more working families qualify than ever before. It was a Labor government that introduced paid parental leave in this country, and it is a Labor government that will always defend it. In all, 460,000 families have benefited from paid parental leave since we expanded it under this government, and those working families should never forget it was the Liberal Party and One Nation who voted against expanding paid parental leave and paying super on it.

I stand here as a working mum and I know this stuff matters. Those first few months are precious. The nights are indeed long, but the days are short and they go by way too fast. Every parent deserves the opportunity to be there for their child without lying awake worrying about the bills they need to pay. This reform delivers exactly that—more time, more support and more peace of mind. This is real support for working families.

I'm so proud of the support that these changes will give Australian families. Parents will decide for themselves how to divide their leave between the primary and the secondary caregiver. Some families will want mum to stay at home for longer. Some will want dad or a partner to take on more of the caring. Many will want to share it more evenly than the generation before them could. No two families are the same. This reform trusts parents to do what works for them because they know their family the best. And it matters enormously to working women. For far too long, the load of caring fell on women alone, and it held them back at work and in their economic security. When both parents can share the caring, women no longer have to choose between their children, who they love, and the careers that they have built.

Supporting families doesn't stop there. Paid parental leave is just one piece of a much larger picture because supporting families does not end when the leave does. It continues every day when a parent walks their child through the door of an early learning centre. That is why we are expanding access to early childhood education and care, making it safer and lifting its quality. Just last week, the Albanese government locked in a historic pay rise for the people who care for our littlest Australians. We're investing a further $3.6 billion to lock in the 15 per cent pay rise for our early childhood educators. That means around $255 more per week for an educator and around $410 per week for early childhood teachers. It's tied to centres who limit their fees, so workers are paid fairly without the costs landing on families. Our three-day guarantee makes sure every child who needs it can access three days of subsidised early learning.

We are tying funding to quality and safety, so services must meet the national safety standard to keep it. Parents deserve to know that their child is safe. Since the pay rise began, there are around 20,000 more educators and vacancies have fallen by almost a third. If we pay our educators properly, we know that more people will want to take on this important work. That is exactly what the Albanese government is all about: backing our parents, backing our little Australians and making sure every family has what they need to flourish, including more time at home, more time in the budget and safer, more affordable early learning. That is the difference between this government and those that sit opposite.

Every support for working families that we have delivered has been opposed by the Liberals and One Nation. Last week, Senator Hanson accused working mums of being lazy and not showing up to work. She questioned the need for paid parental leave and told women exactly what she thinks of them. Well, I say this: the measure of a society is not how much hardship we preserve but how much hardship we remove. I don't think the parents of the 1.4 million children in child care lay awake wishing that child care were more expensive. They don't need lectures on how things used to be; they need policies that reflect how things are now.