PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

Dr RYAN (Kooyong) (11:31): I thank the member for Bonner for moving this important motion and commend the government for the progress it has already made in expanding paid parental leave. From 1 July this year, families will be entitled to 130 days, or 26 weeks, of paid parental leave at the minimum wage. The taxpayer funded PPL scheme entitles either parent in households with an individual income of less than $186,487 or a dual income under $386,525 to roughly six months of leave paid at the minimum wage of $1,004.70 per week.

That commences this Wednesday. This demonstrates genuine progress in paid parental leave in Australia, from 20 weeks in 2023 to 24 weeks and, now, 26. Combined with the landmark introduction of superannuation on paid parental leave from 1 July 2025, these are genuine steps forward for Australian families and for gender equity in our country.

But there's more to do. Together with Senator David Pocock, I have commissioned a costing for an extension of the scheme for parents and primary carers whose babies are born prematurely. In Australia, approximately 18 per cent of newborn babies are admitted to a neonatal intensive or special care nursery.

I know personally what it is like to have a baby in a special care nursery and the uncertainty, anxiety and exhaustion at a time when you've expected to be happier than you've ever been in your life. Families with babies in NICUs and SCNs face enormous strain at the most vulnerable time in their lives. They then often struggle once their previously poorly babies are brought home.

The current scheme at this point doesn't offer them additional support. It needs to. So the reform that Senator Pocock and I are proposing would provide an additional week of paid parental leave for every week that a baby remains in hospital beyond a specified threshold, capped at 14 additional weeks and paid at the current rate.

Secondary carers would also receive an extra two weeks' leave. This would represent a targeted, practical extension which would make a profound difference to families navigating the neonatal system. We need to keep building and broadening paid parental leave because the stakes are high.

Australia's fertility rate sits at an all-time low of 1.48, well below the replacement rate of 2.1. In a recent survey, 53 per cent of respondents said that they're choosing not to have more than one child because of the cost of raising a child and their financial situation. Paid parental leave is part of the answer.

One of my constituents Lawrence Grace recently told me that he had to relocate back to Kooyong with his family because it was the only way that he could afford to have a child. Both Lawrence and his wife are professionals, and they work full time, but they still needed to move states in order to get the family support that they had to have to be able to afford parenthood.

Lawrence also raised the outdated Maternity Leave Act 1973, which has prevented his family from accessing the flexible parental leave payments which are available to other Australians. His experience is not unique and is exactly why we need to keep improving this scheme—which makes it all the more disappointing that One Nation continues to undermine this important conversation.

At the recent National Press Club address, Senator Hanson criticised paid parental leave. One Nation still sees parental leave as a cost, rather than an investment in women's workforce participation and their security in retirement. Under the National Employment Standards, it's not compulsory for employers to fund parental leave—it's a government funded payment—but the fact is that nearly 70 per cent of businesses do voluntarily pay additional parental leave entitlements to their workers because they understand the value of that leave, and they understand the value of their workers.

When more than half of all Australians say that cost is stopping them from having children, arguing against additional, fair support for new parents is not just wrong; it's economically self-defeating. That's why I will always support this and other efforts by governments of Australia to build a world-class Paid Parental Leave scheme that values the work of caring, that supports working families and which advances gender equality for all Australians.