00:00It will apply, if the laws pass, to anyone who has a baby after July 2025, so they will
00:09be able to have superannuation paid on top of their paid parental leave.
00:14As you say, this is expected to affect 180,000 families per year and it will cost the government
00:22$1.1 billion over the forward estimates.
00:26Now under the current program, a couple with a newborn or a newly adopted child can access
00:3122 weeks of paid parental leave.
00:34That will extend to 26 weeks in 2026 and so now superannuation would be able to be paid
00:41on top of that.
00:43This is a measure that the Labor government has wanted to do for some time and it's something
00:47they say is a policy really for women because women still are the majority carers of children,
00:53they still are the people who take more time away from work and therefore they end up further
00:59behind.
01:00Research says sometimes 25% behind men on their retirement savings when they reach that.
01:07Here is Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth announcing this policy a short time ago.
01:12This is a really significant reform to ensure that those receiving the government paid parental
01:18leave not only get the support at the time of a newborn baby but also don't miss out
01:25on their retirement savings in the form of superannuation.
01:30And over time it's going to make a substantial impact on women's retirement incomes which
01:36we know is part of our agenda about addressing gender inequality and making sure that we're
01:41doing everything we can to drive the economic empowerment of women.
01:47The Coalition has previously expressed some support.
01:51There is some conjecture within the party about whether or not they fully support this
01:54policy but in general they have expressed support so it will be interesting to see what
02:00happens when that goes through Parliament.
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