I am so proud to stand here today in support of this brilliant legislation, the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Improvements for Families and Gender Equality) Bill 2022, that will have such a great impact on so many Australian families. This is the first step of us building on our Paid Parental Leave scheme and extending it to 26 weeks by 2026, making it more flexible for families to have more choice in the way they use this very special time in a family's life. I want to thank the Minister for Social Services, the Minister for Women and the Prime Minister for bringing this important bill to the House.

Paid parental leave is a proud Labor legacy, introduced by the Gillard government in 2011 under the former minister for social services and my former boss, the Hon. Jenny Macklin. Back then, Australia was one of only two OECD countries without a national paid parental leave scheme. Labor fixed that. It's a proud moment to be standing here almost 12 years later speaking about the Albanese Labor government's plan to further strengthen and fix the access, flexibility and equity issues in the current scheme.

It is amazing to think there is a whole generation of parents and children—some now almost in high school—who have benefited from the Paid Parental Leave scheme since its introduction. It was a monumental change for Australia. It was good for Australian babies, good for Australian families and good for the Australian economy, and very, very good for Australian women.

The objectives of PPL, as set out in the Productivity Commission's review at the time at which it was based, were dual objectives around maternal and child health but also around women's labour force participation. For many mothers it was the first time they had access to leave of any sort; it was certainly the first government scheme. But to this day many people don't have access to employer funded leave. For some people, particularly those in low-paid work and casuals, this was a monumental change—to be able to actually take that time after having a baby to be at home with that baby to bond with it and to recover. It also increased women's linkage to their workplace, meaning they didn't have to leave their job at the time of having a baby and would remain in touch with that workplace and could return to the job after taking the government funded leave.

Ultimately, it increased participation in the workforce. In her speech introducing the bill, Macklin said:

As a nation, we cannot continue to ignore the barriers to greater participation by women …

The paid parental leave scheme removed one of those biggest barriers. Today, the Albanese Labor government removes even more barriers. We are committing to maximising women's economic equality. This is the legacy of Labor governments—progressive change, a better future for Australians.

This legislation shows Australians the Albanese government is listening to them. Last year at the Jobs and Skills Summit, paid parental leave reform was one of the most frequently raised proposals. Businesses, unions, experts and economists all agreed that reform would boost productivity and participation, and today Labor delivers on those requests.

As the Prime Minister has said:

… a parental leave system that empowers the full and equal participation of women will be good for business, good for families and good for our economy.

I was so proud that our government made paid parental leave a centrepiece of its first budget. This bill will benefit around 181,000 families, including an extra 4,300 Australian families who were previously ineligible but will gain access to PPL for the first time.

As I mentioned, this bill will iron out issues with access, flexibility and equity in the original scheme. One such issue with Parental Leave Pay is the 18-week payment for the primary carer. The eligibility criteria for Parental Leave Pay limits access for non-birth parents, restricts parents' choice about how they structure leave days and transition back to work, and can disadvantage families where the mother is the primary income earner.

In particular, the current scheme provides minimal support for fathers and partners. This bill will expand that access, improve flexibility, encourage shared care and deliver on six key changes. These six changes are: combining the two existing payments, the 18-week Parental Leave Pay and the two-week Dad and Partner Pay schemes, into a single 20-week scheme; reserving a proportion of the scheme for each parent, to support them both to take time off work after a birth or adoption; making it easier for both parents to access the payment by removing the notion of primary and secondary carers; expanding access by introducing a $350,000 family income test under which families can be assessed if they exceed the individual income test; increasing flexibility for parents to choose how they take leave days; and allowing eligible fathers and partners to access the payment, irrespective of whether the birth parent meets the income test or residency requirements.

The changes in this bill send a clear message that treating parenting as an equal partnership supports gender equality. Many of these issues have been raised with me by constituents here in Canberra who have been frustrated by their inability, particularly where the mother might be the primary income earner, to access the scheme when that made the most sense for their family. This addresses that issue, and I'm really proud that we're doing this so soon in our term of government.

I firmly believe that it is only when parenting and taking time out of the workforce to care for children is seen as normal for both mothers and fathers that we will truly address gender equality in the workplace. We are seeing the fruits of that already, as more dads are taking that time off. In my own experience, it was a wonderful thing that my husband's employer provided him with a substantial amount of paid parental leave. I'm very thankful for that. It really enhanced his bond with our children, and it was wonderful in terms of sharing the load of both work and family at that time.

I think the fact that we have always seen the primary caring role of looking after a baby, or kids as they grow up, as the mother's has also robbed fathers of time with their children. I think sharing between both men and women, both parents, is a really important step for families and for our economy, so I'm very proud of the changes in this bill. The shift to a gender-neutral claiming process is also more inclusive and recognises that Australian families are diverse. The government values men as carers, too, and we want to see that reinforced in our workplaces and communities. When fathers take a greater role in caring from the start, it benefits mums, dads and children. When they take that greater caring role from the start, patterns of care are established that continue throughout a child's life.

In addition to benefits for women and their economic equality, there are important physical, mental and social benefits for men and children. We know that, while access to employer funded leave is growing, dads are still missing out, with the majority of eligibility remaining with female employees. Among all employer funded schemes, 50 per cent of women have access, but only 36 per cent of men have the same access. We know that employer provided paid parental leave is more common in female dominated industries. Only half of organisations in male dominated industries offer any form of parental leave, compared with 75 per cent of organisations in industries dominated by women.

It is important that we have a paid parental leave scheme that complements the schemes offered by employers. They should work in unison and it should not be an either/or. At the time of the introduction of the scheme, I think one of the greatest benefits was the signal that this is something the government supports. Many employers took that as a trigger to offer leave to their employees for the first time or to build on what was offered by the government, so that people could build up to having more leave. Offering people that leave for the first time meant that that detachment from the workforce didn't happen to new parents.

Australian men have the second-lowest uptake of primary carer leave in the developed world, and that is something I really hope we will work as a nation to address, because not only is it bad for the economic participation of women but it is robbing fathers of that opportunity and robbing children of time with their fathers. I think that this is really something we are seeing change. Government has a role in providing the policies that will enable the transition to a more inclusive and balanced form of parenting, and I think that is exactly what we are doing here with this bill.

The current scheme does not do enough to provide access to fathers and partners. It limits flexibility for families to choose how they take leave and transition back to work. The eligibility rules are unfair to families with the mother is the higher income earner, as I mentioned. This bill fixes all of these issues. It gives more families access to the government payment, it gives parents more flexibility in how they take the leave and it encourages parents to share care to improve gender equity. These changes, to commence in July this year, are just the first stage of the Albanese government's reforms, and lay the foundation for the expansion of the scheme to a full half-year, or 26 weeks, by 2026.

This was, of course, always the recommendation of the Productivity Commission, who did a report and recommended the scheme. The scheme that was introduced in 2011 was largely based on that. We were always hoping to expand it to 26 weeks. I am really pleased that this commitment has been made, because 26 weeks was recommended as a minimum for maternal and child health, so it's really good that the government scheme will be extended to that by 2026. I'm really excited that this will begin from July this year, and that families will be able to begin to look forward to that extra time with their babies, which is of course such a precious time.

I know that all the parents here in the chamber will identify with that. That is a time where it really would be very hard to have to worry about getting back to work because you might not be able to maintain your job because you took time to be with your baby, or because you can't afford the time. I believe you should never have to be forced out to work because you can't afford to take that time, and that's what the scheme is about—enabling people to take time with their baby, to bond with that baby and to get used to having a child in the family. The important feature of it is to maintain connection with your employer so that women can return to those jobs after their leave.

This is another great Labor achievement, a progressive change that has delivered for the women of Australia and Australian families. The Gillard government had many fantastic achievements with lasting impacts for the Australian people. That's what Labor governments do. That's certainly why I joined the Labor Party—to be part of a party that is about change, that is about reform, that is progressive, that is always looking to the next thing that we can do to improve the lives of Australians. That is what this scheme does.

As I said, before this was introduced in 2011, there were many people who had access to no leave at all. They had to face resigning from their job or having no income after the birth of a child, and that is a very daunting and concerning thing to face at that already quite daunting time for new parents. So I'm really thankful to that great reform of the Gillard government. I'm proud that we are today implementing some further improvements to the scheme and that by 2026 we will be able to provide 26 weeks of leave to Australian families to be with their new babies. This is being looked at currently by the Women's Economic Equality Taskforce as well, who will be coming up with the recommendations around the best way to share that leave between both parents so that we can, as I say, provide families with a better opportunity to balance the way that they flexibly manage their leave.