MICHAEL ROWLAND, CO-HOST: Thousands of Australian mums and dads could be better off with the Government promising to add super contributions to their paid parental leave scheme if it wins the next election. Under the current program, a couple with a newborn or newly-adopted child can get access to up to 20 weeks of paid parental leave at the national minimum wage, but there were calls to add on super to ensure women do not fall behind in retirement.
BRIDGET BRENNAN, CO-HOST: The new plan could hinge on the next election result. Let’s go straight to Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, who joins us now live from Canberra. Good morning to you, Minister. Well, seems like a no-brainer for a lot of women who are retiring with a lot less super than men. Take us through the changes.
SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER, MINISTER FOR WOMEN: Thanks for having me on. Look, this is a really important announcement. We know that women, because of their various caring roles, primarily, but also because of the nature of the work that women predominantly do, retire with a lot less super than men. And one of the issues that’s existed for some time – well, forever – has been that super isn’t paid on paid parental leave, on the Government’s paid parental leave. Many employers do it. But on that scheme, we haven’t paid superannuation, so when you take time out of the workplace, workforce, to care for children, you don’t get super going into your super account. And that contributes to the super pay gap. So, this announcement – and look, it’ll be funded in the Budget, so it’s not linked to the election – is about making sure that we’re sending women a message that, one, we value the care that they provide for young children throughout their careers, and also that this will ensure that we’re doing what we can to close that super gender pay gap.
BRENNAN: I’m sure a lot of women this morning will be welcoming this announcement, but if you’re planning to go on parental leave this year, it’s not going to have a benefit for you. Why couldn’t you have brought it in earlier?
GALLAGHER: Well, there’s a range of things. This is a new way of doing things, we haven’t done it before, so we’ve got some implementation work to work through. But we’ll also have to pass legislation through the Senate, or through the Parliament. But, you know, it often takes a bit of time to get it through the Senate. And this will allow us time to do all that. So, we’re making the provision, it’ll be funded in the Budget, we’ll get the legislation done and through, and then it’ll flow from 1 July 2025.
BRENNAN: How much is it going to cost?
GALLAGHER: Look, we’ll finalise all of that. The final numbers will be crunched through the Budget process, but it is a very significant investment. But we think it’s an investment that’s worthwhile because it does two of those things – helps close that super gender pay gap, but also, sends a very strong message that we don’t think women should pay a financial penalty when they take time out of their paid work to care for children.
BRENNAN: This was Labor policy some years ago, then it was dumped at the 2022 election. Do you regret dumping this policy a couple of years ago, because presumably hundreds of thousands of families would have benefitted if you kept it on?
GALLAGHER: Well, I think, Bridget, what we’ve done – and whether it be through our investments in child care, whether it be our investments in aged care workers or extending PPL, we’ve extended it to 6 months – it has been focused on making sure we’re doing the right thing by women in this country, and this is another step forward on that. But we’ve had to find room in the Budget for it. We’ve taken the difficult decisions finding savings and not spending in other areas to make sure that we’ve got the room and we can do it in the Budget, in a responsible Budget way. And that’s what’s led us to be in a position to make the announcement today. But it’s not in isolation of all the other work we’re doing to improve the lives of women in this country.
BRENNAN: Well, just on that, I mean we’ve been speaking about this wage gap, which is very persistent for women, who are just not earning as much as men. What more can the government do in this area to ensure that there’s not this persistent gap in earnings?
GALLAGHER: Well, I think we’re trying to pull every lever we can, whether it be our industrial relations changes and the work that we’ve asked the Fair Work Commission to consider gender as part of the work that they do, or it’s supporting pay rises for the lowest-paid caring industries like aged care. There’s work underway with child care. So, we need to improve wages, we need to make sure that consideration is given to the nature of the work that women do, we need to encourage flexibility at work, because women are going to keep having children and keep needing to care for children. So, workplaces need to deal with that. And they are increasingly, but there’s more to be done. And on the publication of that data, as you say, Bridget, it’s opened a whole lot of conversations. I know a lot of my female friends who aren’t really in politics or interested, who’ve logged on to that and seen what’s happening in their workplace. And I’m very confident that all of those measures together will help shift the dial in the right direction. But yeah, there’s more to be done and we’ve got to stay focused on it.
BRENNAN: Katy Gallagher, I want to ask you, just finally – I know you’ve got to go shortly – on another issue, which is the deaths of so many Australian women due to violence, often at the hands of current and former partners. We’ve seen a number of women, I believe it’s about ten this year already. How concerned are you about this and what more could the Government to be doing to ensure the Australian community is doing more for women and to keep them safe?
GALLAGHER: Look, you know, I think every time we read out or read a story about another woman that’s died, often at the hands of an intimate partner or a family member, we all search for what more we could be doing. It’s not only the people that die – you know, that’s awful and distressing. It’s all of the women that are hospitalised, all the children that are traumatised. And this is an epidemic in this country. So, federal governments can’t solve it alone, but we’re making the investments we need to do. Amanda Rishworth and Justine Elliot are leading that work with state and territory ministers for women’s safety. We had a meeting on Friday, where of course this is often the number one issue that we talk about. And at the end of the day, we can make all the investments in the world and we will fund all of the programs we need to fund, but we need to change attitudes about respect for women in this country. And that work, you know, has to start at school and when kids are very young and what their parents are telling them. So, it’s a whole of community effort, Bridget. But we can’t allow these women to keep dying at the rate that they are in this country. It’s a national shame.
BRENNAN: It is. Katy Gallagher, thanks for your time this morning.
GALLAGHER: Thanks very much Bridget.