PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

Ms FRANCE (Dickson) (11:45): The weeks and months after my first baby, Henry, was born are still clear in my mind—his first smile, his chubby feet and hands, the sleepless nights, continuous feeding, his first cold injections, the music we'd play him to get him off to sleep, joy, stress, love and fear. That was nearly 22 years ago. I took leave from my full-time job in London in the UK 10 days before my Henry was due, and lucky I did, as he arrived a week early, eight pounds 11 ounces and 58 centimetres long.

The midwife said, 'That's the longest baby we've seen for a while.' In the first few weeks, he was readmitted to hospital, as was I, and we struggled for a few months, as most new parents do. I did it, however, with the security of six months paid maternity leave, because, in the UK in 2004, that was available to me. As a public servant, I got six months full pay.

It took till 2011 for all parents in the UK to get six weeks at 90 per cent pay and the remainder of the six months at a fixed rate. Six months full pay or any parental leave was unheard of in Australia at that time. Labor changed that, and this week we finally catch up to the UK, 15 years later.

I am so proud to be part of a government that is delivering one of the most significant expansions of paid parental leave ever. From 1 July this year, eligible families will be able to access up to 26 weeks of paid parental leave. Twenty-six weeks of paid parental leave helped my little family pay our mortgage.

It kept me in my job. It helped pay the bills, and, of course, it gave me time to be the best mum I could be. It will help so many families in my electorate of Dickson.

At the same time, across the other side of the world, my Aussie friends were just catching up. In 2011, Labor introduced Australia's very first paid parental leave scheme—18 weeks paid parental leave at the federal minimum wage. It was a lifeline for many parents, who were previously forced to use annual leave, return to work weeks after the birth or simply resign, often exiting the workforce for years if not decades.

Labor's Paid Parental Leave scheme changed that. From this week, on 1 July, we will add another two weeks per year, up from last year, which brings us to a total of six additional weeks since we came to government in 2022. The rate of payment is increasing to $1,004.70 per week, in step with the increase to the national minimum wage.

Families accessing the full entitlement will now receive almost $30,000 across their paid parental leave. This is in addition to the changes we introduced last year which mean that the government will pay superannuation on Paid parental leave directly into the recipients' super fund. We are taking this step towards closing the gender pay gap in super, which we know disproportionately affects women who have taken time off work to stay home with the kids.

We've also raised the annual income eligibility cap on the Paid Parental Leave scheme, meaning more people will be eligible to access paid parental leave. We know around 180,000 families benefit from expanded paid parental leave each year, and, since these changes were introduced in 2023, the parents of over 460,000 children have benefited from more support and flexibility.

Now the parents of a new or newly adopted baby have more support than ever before. The majority of OECD countries have had six months of paid parental leave for years and decades. We now catch up, and it is no coincidence that these changes have happened under Labor governments.

The coalition had nine years to bring Australia into line with other developed countries. They chose not to, and don't get me started on One Nation's views on parental leave. Senator Hanson made it clear in the past when she said that women get pregnant to access maternity leave.

We need to ensure paid parental leave is protected into the future. It is investment in our kids, in our families, in women's economic security and in our economy.