Australia finally has a government-funded Paid Parental Leave Scheme.
Date: 22 June 2010
It seems fairly fitting and appropriate that I follow a speech about Muriel Matters, because I want to take my time this evening to talk abouta piece of legislation that we have passed in the federal parliament in the last week. Due to time constraints in the chamber I was not able to contribute to the second reading debate, so I will seek to speak on the legislation this evening. The contribution I want to make is in relation to the Paid Parental Leave Bill 2010, which we passed last week. For far too long Australia has been left on the outer in supporting women at work and for too many years we have been one of only two countries in the OECD not to have a national government funded Paid Parental Leave scheme. The passage of this legislation last week corrects this and it gives babies the best start possible in their lives.According to the Bureau of Statistics, in 2009 almost 25 per cent of women worked in casual jobs and received no paid leave entitlements. Many families, particularly where the woman is in a low-paid, part-time or casual job, often do not have the option of employer provided paid parental leave and do not have the option of one parent taking unpaid leave after the birth of a child. This government funded scheme will now give parents that option. It means one parent will have the financial security to take time off work to care for their baby at home during those vital early months of their baby\'s life. It gives mums time to recover from the birth and precious time to bond with the baby. This sends a very strong signal to the community that having a child and taking leave from work during and after the birth or even the adoption of a child is part of the normal course of work and family life. It supports women to maintain their connection with the workforce and boosts workforce participation. It supports businesses, as they benefit from retaining skilled and experienced female staff but will not have to fund these parental leave payments.
While women\'s workforce participation has substantially increased over the past 30 years, Australian women\'s workforce participation during the peak child-bearing years is lower than for women in other leading industrialised countries. As Minister Macklin said in her second reading speech:
As a nation, we cannot continue to ignore the barriers to greater participation by women, who now make up 45 per cent of the paid workforce.
That is why the Labor Party, under the leadership of Kevin Rudd, committed before the 2007 election to exploring ways to make it as easy as possible for working parents to balance work with adjusting to parenthood and bonding with their children. The Paid Parental Leave Bill 2010 is the result. This legislation will set in place a government funded scheme providing up to 18 weeks of guaranteed parental leave payments, paid to mothers or adoptive parents who have been working and who have a baby or who adopt a child on or after 1 January 2011.
There is an eligibility requirement for this scheme. Claimants will need to meet the paid parental leave work test, income test and residency requirements to be eligible. In order to meet the work test, though, the claimant must have worked continuously for at least 10 of the 13 months prior to the birth of the child and worked at least 330 hours in that 10-month period. It might sound a lot, but in reality it works out to be just one day a week. This means that those who work part time or casually, who have multiple employers or who have recently changed jobs or are between jobs or on unpaid leave for no more than eight weeks at a time will not be left out of the scheme. This measure also means seasonal workers meeting that requirement will not be left out of the scheme.
Importantly, for those fortunate enough to have access to paid parental leave through their employers, this government funded scheme may be received before, after or at the same time as the employer provided paid parental leave, as well as annual or recreational leave. If a claimant wants to return to work before they have received all of their 18 weeks of government funded paid parental leave then the person\'s partner may be able to receive the unused portion of the leave, subject to meeting the eligibility requirements. Otherwise, the government funded Paid Parental Leave scheme will stop once the claimant returns to work. I also want to note that in the case of multiple births-for example, twins or triplets-the claimant can take the government funded parental leave option and the baby bonus can be paid for the second child and subsequent children, subject to eligibility requirements. Otherwise, if you are taking the paid parental leave option for the birth of just one child, the baby bonus is not payable.
I think for Australian women and for Australian families this is a terrific outcome. We know that for 12 years the previous government refused to deliver a paid parental leave scheme for families-and the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Abbott, once said that he would only support paid parental leave \'over his dead body\'. Only recently have they come up with the idea of supporting this scheme but with a big new tax on business to fund it. They want business to fund their scheme, unlike the Rudd Labor government, who will be funding this scheme from government funds. Our scheme is fair. It is fair to families and it is fair to business.
Ms Heather Ridout, the chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, has come out in strong support of the scheme. At a doorstop in Melbourne on 4 May, she said:
It\'s been a long time in gestation ... The Government have been very responsive to concerns about the implementation and the practical issues attached to it and we\'re quite comfortable with the outcome.
She also said in relation to the embarrassing fact that Australia is one of two OECD countries that did not yet have a government funded paid parental leave scheme:
Personally I felt it was a league table Australia should not be on.
Ms Ridout also addressed comments made by the opposition that it was a \'mickey mouse scheme\'. She said:
... this isn\'t a Mickey Mouse scheme. This is a substantial scheme ... My concern about Tony Abbott\'s scheme ... As a representative of business putting a 1.7 per cent levy on the company tax rate which in another life I\'ve been trying to reduce through the Henry process didn\'t make an awful lot of sense to me.
She also stated that there are many employers putting in place schemes that add on to the government\'s scheme, which women in the workplace can only benefit from.
I also want to acknowledge in my speech tonight the work of Ms Sharan Burrow, President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, and use this as an opportunity to publicly thank her for her advocacy and work as leader of the trade union movement over many years and also to publicly wish her well in her move to Brussels, heading up the International Trade Union Confederation. It is a job I know she will do eminently well and we as Australians will be eminently proud of her taking up that role. She has been very vocal in her support for this scheme. On 4 May in Melbourne, when it was launched, she said:
But right now a Labor Government, this Labor Government, determined to put four and a half months in place, income in the hands of working Australians. We congratulate them.
It is important to remember that this scheme is fully costed and well thought out. In February 2008, the government asked the Productivity Commission to look at the economic, productivity and social costs and benefits of paid maternity, paternity and parental leave as well as to consider the health and developmental benefits of any scheme for babies and parents. The commission analysed evidence from surveys and international research. It undertook extensive public consultation on proposals for the scheme and sought submissions and conducted public hearings. In the end, the government recommended a government funded statutory scheme paid at the national minimum wage for up to 18 weeks, a recommendation based on extensive evidence and rigorous analysis. This is the scheme that this government has finally delivered. It is a scheme that is long overdue. I am particularly proud to be part of the federal government that introduced this bill and ensured that it was passed by the parliament.