STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Ms FERNANDO (Holt) (13:50): From 1 July, the Albanese Labor government will extend government funded paid parental leave to six months. This means a lot to me. My little boy, Ilija, turned one this month.

I still remember those first few weeks after Dandenong Hospital: the night feeds, the recovery, the appointments, the washing that never ended and the panic at 3 am wondering whether I am doing the right thing. As a mum, I know those first months are not just time off work; they are the weeks when your baby learns your voice, when your body is still healing, when partners learn how to share the load and when your whole family is trying to find its new rhythm.

That is what six months mean: time to bond, time to recover and time to care without being forced back before you are ready. For the first time, superannuation is being paid on paid parental leave because raising a child should not cost parents—overwhelmingly, women—their security in retirement. In Holt, one of the youngest and fastest-growing electorates in the country, this will make a real difference because, in those first months, every bit of help matters.