00:00 Well, for many years there have been calls for super to be added to the government's
00:05 paid parental leave scheme.
00:07 The argument being that women when they retire have less in their super account when compared
00:12 to men.
00:13 And one of the reasons for that is because women typically spend more time out of the
00:17 workforce caring for children.
00:20 So the current scheme in place at the moment is that parents can access up to 20 weeks
00:24 of paid parental leave.
00:26 That's actually going up by two weeks every week, every year until we get to 2026.
00:30 So next year, for example, it'll be 24 weeks.
00:34 The year after that will be 26 weeks, but there's no super with that.
00:38 But the government today announcing that policy is changing so that super will be included.
00:43 12% super, which is based then off what the payment is, which is the national minimum
00:48 wage of nearly $900 a week.
00:51 The announcement, though, shouldn't come as too much of a surprise given Labor has backed
00:56 this policy for years.
00:57 But in recent times, they've said they couldn't go ahead with it due to the cost involved.
01:02 However, it's now back on the table.
01:05 And it also comes after the Women's Economic Equality Task Force made this recommendation
01:11 that super should be included.
01:12 This task force was asked by the government to make recommendations about how to improve
01:18 the financial situation of women.
01:20 Now, in general, today, this announcement has been welcomed across the board.
01:25 Let's take a listen to some of that reaction.
01:28 Our analysis by the Super Members Council shows that a mother of two could expect to
01:33 be $14,500 better off in retirement.
01:36 And that matters powerfully for the task that we have as a country, which is to close the
01:42 gender gap of inequality in retirement incomes between men and women.
01:47 This Australian woman retires at the moment with about a third less super than men.
01:53 So when will the policy be implemented, Steph?
01:57 Not that soon.
01:58 It's not until next year, Lorna.
02:00 So July of 2025.
02:02 That means it will only be available for parents that have a child after the 1st of July in
02:09 2025.
02:10 The government's plan is to introduce legislation this year that they hope will get through
02:15 Parliament so then essentially all the paperwork and the rigmarole around putting in a new
02:20 policy can be ready to go by next year.
02:23 Now for it to pass Parliament, the government does need extra support either from the opposition
02:28 or from the crossbench.
02:30 The opposition in the past has never supported this policy.
02:33 We understand at this stage they're still considering their position.
02:37 But the government would most likely get the support of the Greens and the crossbench to
02:41 get this through.
02:43 What are the costs associated with it then, Steph?
02:48 So when it comes to the cost to the budget, that's why the government has been saying
02:52 it couldn't afford it, that it was just too much while economic uncertainty continues.
02:58 But that seems to have changed.
03:00 Despite that though, we don't actually have an exact figure from the government.
03:03 The Finance Minister, Katie Gallaher, this morning saying those details will be outlined
03:07 in the May budget.
03:10 It is a significant investment, hundreds of millions of dollars per year that we will
03:16 be allocating to make sure that we are paying super on PPL, which we pay super on a whole
03:23 range of workplace conditions and this is another one and we think this is an outlier
03:28 and this is one way we can address that.
03:31 But also importantly, not only will it help women's super balances at retirement, it will
03:35 also send a strong message that we value unpaid care or paid and unpaid care.
03:42 Now while the government won't provide the exact details, we've done some calculations
03:46 based off the fact that 180,000 families access this paid parental leave every year.
03:52 It'll be 24 weeks they're getting from next July and the super is 12%.
03:56 So do the maths there, you're getting close to about $500 million a year.
04:01 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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