Division Description Changes — Bills — Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Flexibility Measures) Bill 2020; Second Reading — 11th Jun 2020

Change	Division
senate vote 2020-06-11#1 Edited by mackay staff on 2020-07-03 11:31:07	Title Bills — Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Flexibility Measures) Bill 2020; Second Reading Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Flexibility Measures) Bill 2020 - Second Reading - Coronavirus-related unemployment and paid parental leave Description ~~<p class="speaker">Gerard Rennick</p>~~ <p>The importance of making leave available for parents for the arrival of a child is well known, contributing to the health and wellbeing of mothers, babies and the stability of families. A 2016 Ernst & Young study of more than 1,500 employers showed that over 80 per cent of companies that offered paid parental leave reported a positive effect in employee morale, and over 70 per cent reported a boost in productivity. If employees are happy with their work and home balance then they are more likely to be satisfied at work, positively affecting their productivity.</p> <p>Under the current PPL system, the primary caregiver is given 18 weeks of parental leave pay in a continuous block within 12 months of the birth or adoption of a child. The Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Flexibility Measures) Bill 2020 seeks to amend existing legislation by allowing mothers or primary caregivers to split the 18-week leave block to better suit their situation. This reform will mean that the first 12 weeks of the PPL will remain as a continuous block within the first year, while the remaining six weeks can then be used at any time up until the child turns two.</p> The majority voted against an amendment introduced by WA Senator [Louise Pratt](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/wa/louise_pratt) (Labor), which means it failed. The amendment was to the usual [second reading motion](https://peo.gov.au/understand-our-parliament/how-parliament-works/bills-and-laws/making-a-law-in-the-australian-parliament/), which is "that the bill be read a second time" (parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill). ### Amendment text *> A*t the end of the motion, add: > > ", but the Senate: > *> (a) notes that the Government has allowed JobKeeper payments to satisfy** the paid parental leave (PPL) work test; and* > *> (b) calls on the Government to use the Minister for Families and Social Services' regulation mak*ing power under coronavirus laws to enable women who have lost their job because of the coronavirus to access PPL, if they would otherwise have been eligible had they not lost their job". <p>The purpose of the bill is to provide wider and more convenient options for families so that the PPL scheme can best meet their needs. This amendment will help women who are self-employed or small business owners who cannot afford to be off work for such an extended period—18 consecutive weeks. With the legislation as it now stands, women and primary carers who must return to work effectively lose the balance of their entitlement. With the support of the Senate and the passage of this bill, parents and, more particularly, women will retain their full PPL entitlement and finally be able to tailor their leave to fit their personal circumstances.</p> <p>Primary carers have a balance of up to six weeks, which, based on a five-day working week, equates to 30 work days to use as they wish after the initial 12-week block. For example, if a woman works from home running her own business and has a baby, under the current legislation she is entitled to Paid Parental Leave which she must take in a continuous 18-week block. During this time, the woman cannot return to work and run her business or she will forfeit her remaining PPL. However, for women in this situation, being away from their business for such a long time has the potential to cause serious financial damage. Incoming clients, as well as valuable momentum, can be lost, especially if the business is in its infancy and has not yet started turning a profit. If the woman wanted to do any work to keep the business going, she wouldn't be able to do so without losing the remainder of her PPL.</p> <p>The new bill does away with some of this rigidity and will allow mothers to go back to work after 12 weeks, while they retain the option of claiming a further six weeks later. They therefore have the flexibility of using the remaining six weeks as best suits them in their situation. Some may choose to take their leave over the Christmas and new year period, when many businesses slow down, while others may prefer to spread out their leave, taking regular breaks while they continue to manage their work commitments. As for employed women, the flexible leave can help support a more gradual return to work.</p> <p>Since paid parental leave is dispensed by the employer, employees can negotiate with their employer to work part-time. This could operate as an effective, three-day working week by receiving PPL for the remaining two days. Alternatively, some women may also choose to use the six weeks immediately after the initial 12, making it 18 consecutive weeks of PPL, as before. However the leave is used, the point is that there is now flexibility of choice for women to make a personal decision about what is best for them and their family.</p> <p>It is anticipated that this reform will help ensure greater economic independence and improved career development, key aims of the Women's Economic Security Statement. The bill will also make it easier for mothers to transfer their leave to eligible partners who become primary carers, thereby encouraging the sharing of parental duties with fathers and secondary carers. This could lend itself to a shift in social norms, whereby fathers take on a more active role in child rearing and giving both parents more opportunity to balance their work and home lives to better suit their situation. As a stay-at-home father, I can thoroughly recommend to take that option up to all fathers who are thinking about staying home.</p> <p>This bill makes a very worthwhile amendment to an important piece of legislation to support self-starting women to have the same advantages as those conventionally employed. It allows the government to help support women so that they don't have to miss out on either a family or a career. Approximately 4,000 parents are anticipated to use the new flexible leave provisions, where currently around 2,300 mothers fail to use their full PPL entitlement before returning to work. In most cases that's simply because they can't afford it.</p> <p>This bill will ensure that women's employment, businesses and careers will be more secure and productive, leading to better outcomes for them, their families and, in turn, the nation. I commend the bill to the Senate.</p> ~~<p class="speaker">Jess Walsh</p>~~ <p>I'm grateful to have the opportunity to speak on the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Flexibility Measures) Bill 2020 and the subject of paid parental leave. It's an area that Australia could and should be doing a lot better in, particularly when we're compared with similar OECD countries.</p> <p>Of course, up until the introduction of the Paid Parental Leave scheme by the Gillard Labor government in 2011, Australia was one of only two OECD countries that did not have a paid parental leave scheme, the other country being the United States. And, while the scheme isn't perfect, 150,000 parents a year do benefit from it. Nearly half of all new mothers benefit from the scheme, and this has allowed improvements when it comes to enabling women to continue to participate in the workforce; enhancing the health of birth mothers and children; and also, critically, in promoting equality between women and men. However, it's important to note that we do still have further to go on all of these.</p> <p>The flexibility measures that we're talking about today will, hopefully, go some way to improve these indicators even further. The flexibility measures in this bill will change the paid parental leave rules by splitting the 18 weeks of publicly paid parental leave into a 12-week paid parental leave period and a six-week flexible paid parental leave period. The 12-week period will still have to be taken as a continuous block, but will now be accessible by the primary carer at any time during the first 12 months. Right now, it has to be taken immediately after the birth or adoption of a child. The six-week flexible paid parental leave period will be able to be taken at any time during the first two years, and doesn't need to be taken as a continuous block. That's going to allow families to split their entitlements over a two-year period, with periods of work in between. The changes are modest but they will, hopefully, allow parents more flexibility when it comes to sharing parenting responsibilities in a way that works for them. Parents will now be able to use the leave when it suits them most, rather than it being entirely prescribed.</p> <p>In practice, the most likely use of this new flexibility will be parents spreading the new flexible paid parental leave period over a number of months to allow them to return to work part-time. And while these changes are really positive, they are modest. They don't increase paid parental leave entitlements for families. We do need to look at both the quantity and the quality of support that we're providing to new parents in this country, because when compared with other OECD countries we're starting to fall behind. Unfortunately, the bill doesn't do anything to address that or to change that. For example: other countries are quickly increasing the support that they provide to fathers and to partners, both to encourage them to spend more time at home during a child's early years and to increase the flexibility for families as well.</p> <p>Again, this bill does provide more flexibility, but it's a small step and there are plenty of issues that it doesn't solve which we, as a parliament, need to think about in the context of paid parental leave. One of those critical issues is the persistent gender pay gap in this country. Female workers in Australia earn on average 14 per cent less than their male colleagues, which is an extraordinary figure to be citing in 2020. This has been persistent over the last two decades, and the changes—the narrowing of that gender pay gap—have been really minor. Paid parental leave and providing families with flexibility are major factors in addressing the gender pay gap, but not enough on their own.</p> <p>With the current COVID-19 crisis ongoing, we're currently relying on so many female dominated industries to keep us safe and healthy: our medical, hospital and allied health workers, our social carers, aged carers and disability carers and, of course, our early childhood educators, who've done such a heroic job over the past few months by continuing to go to work every day to care for and educate future generations and keep Australians at work. On average, all of these groups of workers are paid significantly less than their male colleagues in other sectors and, indeed, within the same sectors. In healthcare services, the gender pay gap is a whopping 32 per cent. So these essential workers need a lot more than just our thanks at this time. What they really need is recognition in their pay packets and the ability to progress their careers with the respect and the recognition that they deserve.</p> <p>Paid parental leave is an important part of this. It's also an important part of the discussion around workforce participation, and ensuring that women stay in the workforce and in these critical industries. In relation to paid parental leave, a pressing issue raised by my friend and colleague, the federal member for Bendigo, that needs to be addressed is those parents who could miss out due to the COVID-19 crisis, because to be eligible for paid parental leave you must have worked an average of one day a week for 10 of the last 13 months. Right now, across the country, there are thousands and thousands of workers—and we know lots of them are women—who have been stood down from their jobs or have had their industry shut down. If they're stood down for too long, there's a chance that they'll miss out on paid parental leave. If that family loses both paid parental leave and dad and partner pay, they could be in really significant trouble. The government's suggestion that affected families should apply for other forms of income support, such as JobKeeper, is just not the right solution at this time. The last thing that any new parent wants is to have to worry about how much money they have in their bank account. So I'd like to take the opportunity to urge the government to address that issue as fast as possible so that new parents don't miss out.</p> <p>In conclusion, this bill that we're talking about today, is a step in the right direction. It's small, it's modest, but it's definitely heading in the right direction, and it's going to benefit families by providing more flexible access to the Paid Parental Leave Scheme. By splitting up the 18 weeks of paid parental leave into a 12-week period and a six-week flexible paid parental leave period, families will be able to use their entitlements in a way that is more tailored to them and that suits them. So I hope the parliament continues to engage in a discussion about how to address some of the issues that I've spoken about today and that others have spoken about, including the persistent gender pay gap, recognising our essential female workers and improving the workplace participation of women into the future.</p> ~~<p class='motion-notice motion-notice-truncated'>Long debate text truncated.</p>~~

~~Gerard Rennick~~
The importance of making leave available for parents for the arrival of a child is well known, contributing to the health and wellbeing of mothers, babies and the stability of families. A 2016 Ernst & Young study of more than 1,500 employers showed that over 80 per cent of companies that offered paid parental leave reported a positive effect in employee morale, and over 70 per cent reported a boost in productivity. If employees are happy with their work and home balance then they are more likely to be satisfied at work, positively affecting their productivity.
Under the current PPL system, the primary caregiver is given 18 weeks of parental leave pay in a continuous block within 12 months of the birth or adoption of a child. The Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Flexibility Measures) Bill 2020 seeks to amend existing legislation by allowing mothers or primary caregivers to split the 18-week leave block to better suit their situation. This reform will mean that the first 12 weeks of the PPL will remain as a continuous block within the first year, while the remaining six weeks can then be used at any time up until the child turns two.
The majority voted against an amendment introduced by WA Senator [Louise Pratt](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/wa/louise_pratt) (Labor), which means it failed. The amendment was to the usual [second reading motion](https://peo.gov.au/understand-our-parliament/how-parliament-works/bills-and-laws/making-a-law-in-the-australian-parliament/), which is "*that the bill be read a second time*" (parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill).
### Amendment text
> *At the end of the motion, add:*
>
> *", but the Senate:*
>
> *(a) notes that the Government has allowed JobKeeper payments to satisfy the paid parental leave (PPL) work test; and*
>
> *(b) calls on the Government to use the Minister for Families and Social Services' regulation making power under coronavirus laws to enable women who have lost their job because of the coronavirus to access PPL, if they would otherwise have been eligible had they not lost their job".*
The purpose of the bill is to provide wider and more convenient options for families so that the PPL scheme can best meet their needs. This amendment will help women who are self-employed or small business owners who cannot afford to be off work for such an extended period—18 consecutive weeks. With the legislation as it now stands, women and primary carers who must return to work effectively lose the balance of their entitlement. With the support of the Senate and the passage of this bill, parents and, more particularly, women will retain their full PPL entitlement and finally be able to tailor their leave to fit their personal circumstances.
Primary carers have a balance of up to six weeks, which, based on a five-day working week, equates to 30 work days to use as they wish after the initial 12-week block. For example, if a woman works from home running her own business and has a baby, under the current legislation she is entitled to Paid Parental Leave which she must take in a continuous 18-week block. During this time, the woman cannot return to work and run her business or she will forfeit her remaining PPL. However, for women in this situation, being away from their business for such a long time has the potential to cause serious financial damage. Incoming clients, as well as valuable momentum, can be lost, especially if the business is in its infancy and has not yet started turning a profit. If the woman wanted to do any work to keep the business going, she wouldn't be able to do so without losing the remainder of her PPL.
The new bill does away with some of this rigidity and will allow mothers to go back to work after 12 weeks, while they retain the option of claiming a further six weeks later. They therefore have the flexibility of using the remaining six weeks as best suits them in their situation. Some may choose to take their leave over the Christmas and new year period, when many businesses slow down, while others may prefer to spread out their leave, taking regular breaks while they continue to manage their work commitments. As for employed women, the flexible leave can help support a more gradual return to work.
Since paid parental leave is dispensed by the employer, employees can negotiate with their employer to work part-time. This could operate as an effective, three-day working week by receiving PPL for the remaining two days. Alternatively, some women may also choose to use the six weeks immediately after the initial 12, making it 18 consecutive weeks of PPL, as before. However the leave is used, the point is that there is now flexibility of choice for women to make a personal decision about what is best for them and their family.
It is anticipated that this reform will help ensure greater economic independence and improved career development, key aims of the Women's Economic Security Statement. The bill will also make it easier for mothers to transfer their leave to eligible partners who become primary carers, thereby encouraging the sharing of parental duties with fathers and secondary carers. This could lend itself to a shift in social norms, whereby fathers take on a more active role in child rearing and giving both parents more opportunity to balance their work and home lives to better suit their situation. As a stay-at-home father, I can thoroughly recommend to take that option up to all fathers who are thinking about staying home.
This bill makes a very worthwhile amendment to an important piece of legislation to support self-starting women to have the same advantages as those conventionally employed. It allows the government to help support women so that they don't have to miss out on either a family or a career. Approximately 4,000 parents are anticipated to use the new flexible leave provisions, where currently around 2,300 mothers fail to use their full PPL entitlement before returning to work. In most cases that's simply because they can't afford it.
This bill will ensure that women's employment, businesses and careers will be more secure and productive, leading to better outcomes for them, their families and, in turn, the nation. I commend the bill to the Senate.
~~Jess Walsh~~
I'm grateful to have the opportunity to speak on the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Flexibility Measures) Bill 2020 and the subject of paid parental leave. It's an area that Australia could and should be doing a lot better in, particularly when we're compared with similar OECD countries.
Of course, up until the introduction of the Paid Parental Leave scheme by the Gillard Labor government in 2011, Australia was one of only two OECD countries that did not have a paid parental leave scheme, the other country being the United States. And, while the scheme isn't perfect, 150,000 parents a year do benefit from it. Nearly half of all new mothers benefit from the scheme, and this has allowed improvements when it comes to enabling women to continue to participate in the workforce; enhancing the health of birth mothers and children; and also, critically, in promoting equality between women and men. However, it's important to note that we do still have further to go on all of these.
The flexibility measures that we're talking about today will, hopefully, go some way to improve these indicators even further. The flexibility measures in this bill will change the paid parental leave rules by splitting the 18 weeks of publicly paid parental leave into a 12-week paid parental leave period and a six-week flexible paid parental leave period. The 12-week period will still have to be taken as a continuous block, but will now be accessible by the primary carer at any time during the first 12 months. Right now, it has to be taken immediately after the birth or adoption of a child. The six-week flexible paid parental leave period will be able to be taken at any time during the first two years, and doesn't need to be taken as a continuous block. That's going to allow families to split their entitlements over a two-year period, with periods of work in between. The changes are modest but they will, hopefully, allow parents more flexibility when it comes to sharing parenting responsibilities in a way that works for them. Parents will now be able to use the leave when it suits them most, rather than it being entirely prescribed.
In practice, the most likely use of this new flexibility will be parents spreading the new flexible paid parental leave period over a number of months to allow them to return to work part-time. And while these changes are really positive, they are modest. They don't increase paid parental leave entitlements for families. We do need to look at both the quantity and the quality of support that we're providing to new parents in this country, because when compared with other OECD countries we're starting to fall behind. Unfortunately, the bill doesn't do anything to address that or to change that. For example: other countries are quickly increasing the support that they provide to fathers and to partners, both to encourage them to spend more time at home during a child's early years and to increase the flexibility for families as well.
Again, this bill does provide more flexibility, but it's a small step and there are plenty of issues that it doesn't solve which we, as a parliament, need to think about in the context of paid parental leave. One of those critical issues is the persistent gender pay gap in this country. Female workers in Australia earn on average 14 per cent less than their male colleagues, which is an extraordinary figure to be citing in 2020. This has been persistent over the last two decades, and the changes—the narrowing of that gender pay gap—have been really minor. Paid parental leave and providing families with flexibility are major factors in addressing the gender pay gap, but not enough on their own.
With the current COVID-19 crisis ongoing, we're currently relying on so many female dominated industries to keep us safe and healthy: our medical, hospital and allied health workers, our social carers, aged carers and disability carers and, of course, our early childhood educators, who've done such a heroic job over the past few months by continuing to go to work every day to care for and educate future generations and keep Australians at work. On average, all of these groups of workers are paid significantly less than their male colleagues in other sectors and, indeed, within the same sectors. In healthcare services, the gender pay gap is a whopping 32 per cent. So these essential workers need a lot more than just our thanks at this time. What they really need is recognition in their pay packets and the ability to progress their careers with the respect and the recognition that they deserve.
Paid parental leave is an important part of this. It's also an important part of the discussion around workforce participation, and ensuring that women stay in the workforce and in these critical industries. In relation to paid parental leave, a pressing issue raised by my friend and colleague, the federal member for Bendigo, that needs to be addressed is those parents who could miss out due to the COVID-19 crisis, because to be eligible for paid parental leave you must have worked an average of one day a week for 10 of the last 13 months. Right now, across the country, there are thousands and thousands of workers—and we know lots of them are women—who have been stood down from their jobs or have had their industry shut down. If they're stood down for too long, there's a chance that they'll miss out on paid parental leave. If that family loses both paid parental leave and dad and partner pay, they could be in really significant trouble. The government's suggestion that affected families should apply for other forms of income support, such as JobKeeper, is just not the right solution at this time. The last thing that any new parent wants is to have to worry about how much money they have in their bank account. So I'd like to take the opportunity to urge the government to address that issue as fast as possible so that new parents don't miss out.
In conclusion, this bill that we're talking about today, is a step in the right direction. It's small, it's modest, but it's definitely heading in the right direction, and it's going to benefit families by providing more flexible access to the Paid Parental Leave Scheme. By splitting up the 18 weeks of paid parental leave into a 12-week period and a six-week flexible paid parental leave period, families will be able to use their entitlements in a way that is more tailored to them and that suits them. So I hope the parliament continues to engage in a discussion about how to address some of the issues that I've spoken about today and that others have spoken about, including the persistent gender pay gap, recognising our essential female workers and improving the workplace participation of women into the future.
~~Long debate text truncated.~~