ADJOURNMENT

Ms COFFEY (Griffith) (19:55): Tomorrow marks a proud day for Australian families. From 1 July 2026, eligible parents welcoming a new baby or adopting a child will have access to 26 weeks of paid parental leave. That is six months backed by the government—six months to recover, to bond and to settle into life with a new baby.

Anyone who has brought a newborn home knows that the first months are hard to describe. They are full of love, but they are also tiring. They bring joy, but they can bring worry too.

There are feeds through the night, appointments, recovery, nappies, washing, visitors and the fleeting—very fleeting—rare moments of silence. That time is precious, and it should be available to every family. It should not depend on the size of someone's bank account, their workplace's policy or whether a parent can afford to go without pay.

It was a Whitlam government that introduced paid maternity leave for Commonwealth employees in 1973, and, in 2011, it was a Gillard Labor government that introduced our national Paid Parental Leave scheme, providing 18 weeks of government funded parental leave. Before then, Australia was one of the few developed countries without a proper, funded national scheme.

For generations, parents were expected to make it work on their own. Mothers returned to work sooner than they wanted. Fathers often had little or no time at home.

Families used savings, credit cards, annual leave, unpaid leave or whatever they had. Labor changed that. We created a national scheme, we defended it, and now the Albanese Labor government is building on it.

From tomorrow, families who access the full entitlement will receive almost $30,000 across their paid parental leave. That is more than double the support families received before Labor came into government. The individual income limit will also increase, meaning more families will be covered—more time, more money, more families supported.

In my community of Griffith, 1,560 parents received paid parental leave last financial year. I think about what this change means for those families. It means a mum in Coorparoo can have more time to recover after her birth.

It means a dad in Morningside can spend more time at home in those first months. It means parents in West End, Camp Hill, Cannon Hill and Bulimba and across our community can make decisions with a little less financial pressure. It means a parent can stay home longer without being punished for starting a family.

As a proud mum of two, I know how much that time means. Twenty months after I had my first child, I gave birth to my second baby. By then, my savings were depleted from the unpaid time I had taken after my first child.

I was deeply grateful for the government paid parental leave I received for baby No. 2. I think it gave me around 13 weeks. But I could not afford to take off more time, and I returned to work earlier than I wanted.

I was breastfeeding, caring for two small children and trying to keep everything together. I know many parents have their own version of that story. They have stood in the kitchen late at night doing the maths.

They have wondered what they will lose in income, savings, super or career progress. They have felt the pressure of wanting to be with their child and needing to pay the bills. That is why this change means so much.

It says that time with a new child is to be valued. It says that parents should be backed by their country at one of the most demanding and meaningful times in their lives. These changes did not happen by accident.

They happened through the work of parents, unions, advocates, women's organisations and community members who kept making the case. And they happened in the face of people who still want to drag this country backwards. We have heard the same tired attacks on paid parental leave for years.

We have heard women being called 'rorters' and 'double dippers'—on Mother's Day, no less. We have heard Senator Hanson in the other place suggest that paid parental leave should be left to companies, as though a parent's time with their newborn should depend on who signs their payslip. Labor rejects that view.

A child's start in life should not depend on where their parents work. A mother's recovery should not depend on whether her employer has a generous policy. A father's chance to be present should not depend on workplace culture.

This country can do better, and Labor is doing better. Every new parent deserves time to hold their baby, to learn their cries, to recover, to rest and to build routines that carry a family through those early months. Labor introduced paid parental leave.

Labor protected it, Labor expanded it, and, from tomorrow, Labor is expanding it again, to a full 26 weeks for eligible families. This is a very proud achievement for this Labor government. Most of all, it is a better start for those thousands of babies, parents and families right across our country and most especially in my community of Griffith, where we have so many young families starting out.

I know how much of a change and how much of a help this new policy will be for families in my community. House adjourned at 20:00