E&OE TRANSCRIPT
Labor has a long and proud history of improving the lives of Australian families with critical, nation-building reforms.
It was a Labor government who introduced our country’s first maternity allowance back in 1912.
It was a Labor government who created Medicare, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Labor governments delivered no fault divorce, the single mothers benefit and the child support system.
And it was a Labor government – the Gillard Government – that introduced Paid Parental Leave in this country.
When Paid Parental Leave was introduced in 2011, it was a major milestone for Australian families.
As the Minister for Families, the Honourable Jenny Macklin MP, said in Parliament at the time: “This historic reform is a major win for working families who have been waiting decades for a national paid parental leave scheme”.
For many parents, the 18-week payment – fully funded by the Government – was the first time they could access any paid parental leave.
This was a material advancement in workplace and economic equality for women, whose disproportionate share of unpaid care has long-term consequences for their economic security.
Paid Parental Leave is critical for families, it is critical for women and it is critical for the economy.
The Gillard Government knew this, and the Albanese Government knows it too.
From day one, the Albanese Government has been working hard to improve Paid Parental Leave for working families.
As a centrepiece of our first budget, we announced important reforms to modernise the scheme to meet the needs of Australian families.
First, we passed legislation so that from 1 July 2023:
- more families have access to the payment with a more generous family income test
- it is easier for parents to share care
- and they can take leave flexibly with periods of work in between, to support them in the transition back to work.
Then, earlier this year, we passed legislation to increase the length of the scheme. From 1 July 2024, we added two more weeks of payment, expanding the scheme from 20 weeks to 22 weeks.
The scheme will further expand by two weeks each year, until it reaches 26 weeks in 2026.
All these changes combined mean Paid Parental Leave is now more accessible, flexible and it encourages shared care. It supports parents to take a step back from paid work and provides critical financial support at such an important time.
Parents can now share over $20,000 to support them after the birth of a new baby.
The bill I am introducing today, the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Adding Superannuation for a More Secure Retirement) Bill, is the third significant improvement the Albanese Government has made to Paid Parental Leave.
Through Paid Parental Leave, the Government supports parents to take time off work after the birth or adoption of their child. Through this bill, we are taking action to support them at retirement as well.
Through this bill, we are investing $1.1 billion over the forward estimates to pay superannuation on Government Paid Parental Leave from July 2025.
This is a further step towards gender equality and improving women’s economic security.
Women make up the majority of primary caregivers in this country, leading to what has been referred to as ‘the motherhood penalty’, where they face greater economic insecurity because of time out of the workforce to care for children.
Women with children face an average 55 per cent drop in earnings in their first five years of parenthood.
The effect of lower income compounds over time, increasing the gap between men and women’s superannuation balances at retirement. The data is clear – women retire with around 25 per cent less super than men.
We want to change this. We know inequality serves no one.
Paying super on Paid Parental Leave is an important step to reducing the gendered gaps in retirement savings.
We have listened to calls from the union movement, the women’s movement, economists and employers.
Paying super on Paid Parental Leave is a positive investment into the future of working women and in the broader economy.
For babies born or adopted from 1 July 2025, this bill delivers all eligible parents with an additional 12 per cent of their Paid Parental Leave as a contribution directly to their super fund.
This super contribution will match the Superannuation Guarantee rate as at 1 July of the financial year the paid parental leave is taken. It will rise with any future increases to the legislated Superannuation Guarantee.
The contribution will be made annually by the Australian Tax Office after the end of each financial year. It will include an additional interest component to address any forgone superannuation fund earnings as a result of the payment not being made more regularly.
Most parents won’t need to do anything further to receive their superannuation payment and the claim process for Paid Parental Leave will not change.
Around 180,000 families will benefit from the changes. Once the PPL scheme reaches 26 weeks in 2026, and based on a Superannuation Guarantee rate of 12 per cent, the maximum amount a family would receive in superannuation contributions is around $3,000.
This bill, and our two Paid Parental Leave laws before it, send a clear message that the Government is committed to a stronger parental leave system, and we want to see this reinforced throughout workplaces.
The Government payment is a minimum entitlement, designed to complement employer-provided leave.
Paying super on Government-funded Paid Parental Leave will continue to normalise parental leave as a workplace entitlement, like annual and sick leave.
Data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency shows the proportion of businesses providing their own paid parental leave has increased over the last decade.
In 2022–23, 63 per cent of reporting employers offered employer-funded paid parental leave.
This is up from 48 per cent in 2013–14.
This positive trend demonstrates employers increasingly see themselves as having a role alongside Government in providing paid parental leave.
Government and employers should be working together to ensure our parental leave system as strong and inclusive as it can be.
We know that when businesses offer their own employer-funded parental leave entitlements, it is a major way to attract and retain staff.
While we encourage employers to do this, this bill is about strengthening the Government scheme.
In addition to adding super to the Government payment, this bill will ensure the parental leave framework in the Fair Work Act complements the Paid Parental Leave Scheme.
Unpaid parental leave in the Fair Work Act is an entitlement that supports parents to remain connected to paid employment while they care for their child.
This bill includes minor technical amendments to clarify drafting to ensure parents can access ‘keeping in touch days’ during a period of continuous unpaid parental leave to remain in contact with their workplace and help facilitate their return to work.
This will help support working parents to balance their work and care responsibilities.
In short, this Bill is good for families, good for women, good for business and good for the economy.
Our Government’s Paid Parental Leave reforms are already making a difference.
New mum Jenny Lei told me how it had helped her physical and mental health while she recovered after the birth.
She said, ‘We get extra time to adjust to being a family. It’s not easy being a new parent’.
New dad, Kieren Fisher, said paid parental leave ‘has given us a better chance to have that family time and be able to adjust to the new addition which is particularly important for our son Henry who has a disability.
It’s enabled us to have that additional care or take extra leave off to make sure that he’s got access to things like early intervention therapy. It’s been amazing.’
Thanks to our government’s significant investment in Paid Parental Leave, families not only receive extra support at the time of the birth, but we are boosting their retirement incomes too.
In our first term we have made the most significant reforms to Paid Parental Leave since it was introduced over a decade ago.
Paid Parental Leave has changed the lives of millions of Australians.
Our reforms make the scheme stronger and more suitable for the needs of modern families.
Paid Parental Leave is a proud Labor legacy and we will always work to strengthen it.
I commend the bill.