CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Mr WATTS (Gellibrand) (10:57): The first months with your child are precious, but a time that is supposed to be full of joy can also be a time of stress and financial pressure. That's why the Albanese government is continuing our expansion of paid parental leave, helping new parents spend more time at home with their newest family member. In my electorate in Melbourne's west, 2,215 parents have already benefited from this extra support just in the last year.

Point Cook in my electorate is not only the biggest suburb anywhere in Australia; it's also known as the mum capital of Australia, home to more than 16,000 mums. Starting this week, new mums and new dads in Point Cook and across Melbourne's west, and across all of Australia, will be able to access up to six months of paid parental leave. Families will have access to up to $30,000, more than double what was available before Labor came to government, and we're increasing the threshold for eligibility so that more parents can access paid parental leave and focus on what's important: their family.

We shouldn't take paid parental leave for granted. For decades, Australia lagged behind the rest of the world. Coalition governments had every chance to introduce paid parental leave.

They did nothing. It took a Labor government to act and to deliver this important family policy. The Rudd and Gillard governments delivered Australia's first paid parental leave scheme, and, when the coalition came back into government in 2013, they tried to wind it back.

Labor stopped them, and now we're going further in government by strengthening paid parental leave again, because even now there are voices in this parliament arguing again to undo the progress we have made. Some of those are sitting opposite in this chamber now. But this Labor government, like those before it, will continue to fight for paid parental leave, fighting for the financial security and peace of mind that families have earned and fighting for the parents of more than 460,000 children who have already benefited since we expanded the Paid Parental Leave scheme—children who've benefited from having their parents at home in those formative days, from having stability and from having that stress removed at that really important time.

Labor believes in a system that is stronger, fairer and better suited for the ways that families live today. Our system is not only good for families but it's good for business and good for our economy. It was a Labor government that brought paid parental leave to this country, and it's a Labor government that wants to improve it.

The families in my electorate in Melbourne's west know that it is a Labor government that will continue to protect it against the voices that want to take us back, to continue to deliver real change that helps working families across the country.