The Greens will seek to push Labor to increase paid parental leave to 26 weeks sooner than planned and to pay superannuation on it through possible amendments to the government bill to reduce tax concessions for high super balances.
The Greens employment spokesperson, Senator Barbara Pocock, said women “shouldn’t have to wait” until 2026 for 26 weeks of paid parental leave (PPL), slamming Labor’s plan in the October budget to increase the entitlement by “a miserly two weeks year after year”.
The Greens join a growing chorus of super funds and crossbench MPs who want to use the government’s announcement that earnings on super fund balances in excess of $3m will be taxed at 30% to call for broader changes, including paying super on paid parental leave.
Those in favour include the independent senator David Pocock; MPs Zoe Daniel, Kylea Tink and Monique Ryan; Aware Super; and the chair of Industry Super Australia, Greg Combet.
The government has been quick to pour cold water on the proposal, warning it won’t “hypothecate” revenue increases to specific purposes and increasing paid parental leave – not paying super on it – is its priority.
Barbara Pocock told Guardian Australia there was “a large body of advocacy and evidence going right back to the Productivity Commission inquiry which led to PPL in 2011 arguing for paying super on PPL”.
“It’s a no-brainer, it’s really important to do it,” she said.
Pocock said it should be paid “out of general revenue”, agreeing with the government that revenue raised from reducing super tax concessions should not hypothecated, or reserved, for this specific purpose.
But Pocock said paying super on PPL would be “a drop in the ocean” in closing the gap between men and women’s super balances. Evidence to the Senate committee on work and care, which Pocock chairs, suggests paying super to a mother who took 20 weeks of leave each pregnancy to raise two children will only close the super gap at retirement by $14,000.
“We need to do a lot more – not just to pay super on paid parental leave but to significantly increase the period of paid leave,” Pocock said. “The OECD average is 52 weeks.”
Pocock said the government’s plan to increase PPL from 18 weeks to 26 weeks in stages by 2026 is “administratively clunky” and “pretty messy”, putting pressure on families to delay having children to access more generous leave.
Asked if increasing PPL sooner and adding super on top could be moved as amendments to Labor’s super bill, Pocock confirmed: “We’re leaning that way. We’d like to make amendments and that’s our plan. Women shouldn’t have to wait any longer, especially not while the government is giving $50bn of tax breaks mostly to blokes and wealthy people.”
David Pocock said there were “many ways” savings could be redirected, including mental health investment, public housing debts and “paying super on commonwealth paid parental leave”.
“A relatively modest investment in that now would deliver a huge dividend in future in terms of taking pressure off the aged pension and giving people – and women in particular – a better retirement.”
On Wednesday the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, told Radio National that “we don’t have hypothecated taxes” and the revenue raised from less generous super tax concessions would be used “to pay down debt”.
“We’ve said we would like to [pay super on PPL] when the budget allows – I’ve made that very clear.
“I’ve also said we have a trillion dollars of debt, we are responsible economic managers, we need to address the inflationary pressures that are there in the economy – that requires us to be very prudent about any expenditure.”
The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, said the government’s “focus” was on extending paid parental leave from 18 weeks to 26 weeks of shared care, an “important initiative” announced in the October budget.
“That’s been our first priority but we will continue to work on issues around pay inequality.”
The government’s position received backing from the Jacqui Lambie Network senator Tammy Tyrrell, who said “we’re struggling to pay for things like aged care and the NDIS at the moment”.
“I get why it’s important to pay super on paid parental leave, and think it’d be a good thing to look at when we can afford it.
“But right now, we’re writing cheques we can’t cash. We need revenue to pay the bills we’ve got sitting in our laps. It’s not the time to be ordering extras.”
