JULIA GILLARD:
I’m here with Minister Macklin, we’re here to give the press conference after the Cabinet meeting, and obviously one of the items of discussion at Cabinet today has been paid parental leave. At the last election, we committed to the Australian people that we would ask the Productivity Commission to inquire into a paid parental leave model for this country. This issue had been neglected over 12 long years, leaving us as one of only two developed countries without such a scheme. We asked the Productivity Commission to do this inquiry as we move to change workplace relations laws to give mums and dads more flexibility and choice at the time of the birth of their child.
Our new National Employment Standards will deliver that flexibility and choice, giving mum and dad a choice to sequence their unpaid maternity leave and unpaid paternity leave to have a parent at home with a newly born child for the first two years of the child’s life. And our National Employment Standards will also give the ability for one carer, usually the mum, to request an extra 12 months of unpaid maternity leave and to request the ability to return flexibly or part time. That’s part of our National Employment Standards. We asked the Productivity Commission to inquire into paid maternity leave.
Today we’ve received the draft report of the Productivity Commission. Now we have moved from the question of if for paid parental leave to how to do paid parental leave. The Productivity Commission has designed a model. It will be the subject of further consultation. People will be able to make submissions and there will be further hearings in November. And then the Productivity Commission will be able to deliver its final advice to Government in February.
As the Prime Minister said this morning, ‘It’s time to bite the bullet’ on paid parental leave. We very much welcome the Productivity Commission’s draft report. We welcome the further processes it will go through to consult with the community and we look forward to its advice in February. This is part of moving this nation away from 12 long years of neglect, where this issue for working mums and working dads wasn’t dealt with. We want to make sure that we are giving men and women choices and that is part of this process.
I’ll turn to Jenny Macklin to make some comments and then we’ll take some questions.
JENNY MACKLIN:
Thanks, thanks Julia. I just want to add a couple of remarks, particularly about why this issue is so important for children. Newborn babies really benefit from the time that they have, particular in the early months of their lives, to have that special time with their mothers and with their fathers. We want to move forward on this critical issue of paid parental leave because we understand just how important it is for mothers to recover after childbirth, for babies to be able to bond with their mother and their father and we also want to really recognise just how important it is to give parents choice. We value the choices that parents make, whether it’s a choice for a parent to stay at home and look after their children or whether it’s a choice a combine their parental responsibilities with going into the paid workforce. And in receiving this report from the Productivity Commission today, we are very mindful to value those choices and the Government will be contributing to the debate, of course, over the next months in building our own approach paid parental leave.
But what I want to say very clearly is that we value the choices that parents make. We do understand just how important it is that individual families are able to make the decisions that they want to make, that they think is going to be in the best interests of their families and their children.
JOURNALIST:
What are some of the key recommendations that have come out of this report?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, the Productivity Commission has recommended a model. It’s recommended a model of payments for mothers who were in the workforce prior to the birth of their child, as well as a model for mothers who were not at work. It’s also recommended a model for dads. This is the Productivity Commission’s advice. It’s a draft report and it’s going to be the subject of further consultation.
JOURNALIST:
What about timeframe that was mentioned previously 14 weeks paid leave? Is that something the Government would consider?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, this is a draft report. We will await the final report in February. The Productivity Commission in this report is putting a model out there for further consideration. It’s going to ask for further submissions; it’s going to hold further public hearings. So, its model will obviously be debated in the lead up to February when they will deliver their final advice and Government will respond to that final advice.
But the important thing here is we have moved from a question of if this nation will ever have a paid parental leave scheme to how we’re going to do this scheme. Under the former government, this issue wasn’t even on the table. They simply didn’t want to act. We promise the Australian community we would act. We promised the Australian community we’d get the best of advice. We asked the Productivity Commission to look at this issue. We’ve got the interim report, the draft report today, we will get the final report and then Government will respond. But we are moving forward on paid parental leave and receiving this draft report today is part of that process of moving forward.
JOURNALIST:
I guess the other question, if there’s if and how, what about when? Is there going to be a measure in next year’s Budget, or when do you envisage this being produced?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, we will get the final advice from the Productivity Commission in February. Both Jenny and I have said, obviously, we will need to consider that advice, we will need to consider any expenditure matters that arise from that advice. We are always very prudent about all potential expenditure questions, so that will be dealt with by Government. We obviously want to make sure that anything that is going to cost Government money is dealt with very carefully.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible] When the final model, whatever that model is… [inaudible]?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, I’ll just get Jenny to comment too. But as I said, we have been left behind the world because of 12 long years of inaction by the former government. As the rest of the developed world has moved to give mums and dads more choices, we’ve been left behind.
JENNY MACKLIN:
We are only one of two developed counties in the world that don’t have a paid maternity leave scheme and what’s so exciting about the Prime Minister’s response is that he is now saying it’s time for Australia to bite the bullet on paid parental leave. It’s time that we joined with the rest of the developed world and made sure that parents are able to combine their parenting responsibilities and their responsibilities of work. This is a major shift forward for the Australian workplace, but also for Australian families.
JOURNALIST:
How would you describe the current arrangements or lack of arrangements in terms of paid maternity leave in Australia?
JENNY MACKLIN:
The problem is the vast majority of women really don’t have access to paid maternity leave. We have far too many women having to return to work after they have their babies, very, very quickly after they have their babies, because of the pressures on their family budgets. And we understand that. We understand that many, many of those women would like to stay home and spend more time with their babies. All the evidence shows that that’s better for their babies and that’s what this is all about—doing something that’s really good for babies, great for families and good for workplaces.
JOURNALIST:
Can I just ask you a question quickly about the setting for today’s Cabinet meeting. The first time that Cabinet Ministers [inaudible] … CSIRO. What do you think their impressions are of the [inaudible] Newcastle?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, I’d have to say it’s a fantastic building and a fantastic facility. I had the opportunity when we first arrived to hear a little bit about it. What it’s obviously doing is modelling a cleaner, greener way of working—that’s what this facility is all about. It’s just not talking about it, it’s just not arguing for it, it’s actually demonstrating it through this very lovely energy efficient building.
JENNY MACKLIN:
Okay, thank you.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible]
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, Cabinet discussions are confidential but we have been talking about paid parental leave and we’re looking forward to the community meeting this evening.
JOURNALIST:
Ms Gillard, Education Minister, Verity Firth, from New South Wales—have you had any discussion with her about getting New South Wales to sign onto the computer in schools program over the weekend?
JULIA GILLARD:
What we’ve indicated to New South Wales is we do want to cooperate to make sure that students in New South Wales in government schools continue to benefit from the Rudd Labor Government’s Digital Education Revolution. We will be continuing with Round Two. More than 600 schools have already applied around the nation. Every other state and territory is participating, Catholic and Independent schools are participating, and we didn’t want to disappoint them. But we’ll keep working with the New South Wales Government so students in New South Wales’ government schools continue to benefit from our Digital Education Revolution. They did benefit from the first round.
JOURNALIST:
Have other states expressed concerns though over the funding arrangements?
JULIA GILLARD:
It’s only New South Wales that has chosen not to participate in Round Two.
JOURNALIST:
I think there was a figure for $450 million, or thereabouts, for the unpaid parental leave, it was going to be 14 weeks. Is that kind of figure reasonable, do you think in Government spending?
JULIA GILLARD:
The Productivity Commission in putting this model forward has put forward costings of the Government contributions that would be required. So once again, that will be the subject of consultation and further submission making as we move towards the final advice in February. Thank you.
ENDS