STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Ms COFFEY (Griffith) (13:37): For 30 years I have stood against One Nation and Senator Hanson's policies of division, and I can hardly believe that, 30 years on, we are still here, having to call out the same old tired attacks on working families. At the National Press Club, Senator Hanson said, 'If women take time off and they are not paid their wages because they're not working, fair enough.' She then asked, 'Why should businesses pay?

They're not at work.' And today, on morning television, she said, 'It's up to companies whether they want to have in their policy that they will give it to their workers.' We know millions of workers and young families across the private sector will be rightly shocked that she is telling them they do not deserve time away from work to care for their children, bond with their babies and establish their families.

One Nation believes a parent's time with their young children should depend on where they work and who they work for. I know how precious parental leave is for my family. Twenty months after I had my first child, I gave birth to my second baby.

At that stage, my savings were completely depleted from my first six months of parental leave. I was incredibly thankful that, for 13 weeks, the government provided paid parental leave for baby No. 2. However, I could not afford to take any more time off.

It's always been something that I have been very sad about. I returned to work earlier than I would've wanted to, so I had to juggle breastfeeding and two small kids with returning to work so quickly. Labor understands that raising a new baby is important work.

It was a Whitlam Labor government that introduced paid maternity leave for Commonwealth employees in 1973. But now, 50 years later, Senator Pauline Hanson wants to take us backwards. Labor will not let that happen.

We are increasing paid parental leave to 26 weeks from 1 July.