Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Polley for that very important question. The Gillard government is supporting families. We are standing by families every day in their everyday lives. Australian families want to give their children the best start in life, and that is exactly what the government is doing. Australia's first national Paid Parental Leave scheme provides eligible working parents with parental leave pay of up to 18 weeks at the national minimum wage of around $590 a week before tax. I can report to the Senate today that, at the start of October, 100,000 Australian families had claimed paid parental leave since it started at the beginning of the year. That is 100,000 families. Approximately half the mothers who have so far received the paid parental leave earned less than $42,000 in the year before the baby was born or adopted.

This scheme is helping families in need. This scheme is helping families who need support, which is exactly what was intended by the Gillard government. It is a scheme that we are extremely proud of. In what is good news, new dads and partners who share the care of new babies will be able to access dad's pay from 1 January 2013. That is more good news for Australian families. Compare this with the parental scheme policy that those Liberal senators and National Party senators have on the other side of the chamber, which will put an increased burden on business and small business, flowing down onto families and increasing costs at the cashier and at the checkout. That is the policy of the Liberal Party. Labor has delivered the Paid Parental Leave scheme and parents are benefiting.

That is not all, though, that the Gillard government is doing. Just yesterday, the Assistant Treasurer, Minister Shorten, introduced legislation into the chamber that will increase superannuation for workers from nine per cent to 12 per cent. Who is this going to benefit? It will benefit families—families will be the winners. (Time expired)