Julie, thank you so much. It is lovely to be here. It is good to be with so many of my parliamentary colleagues led of course by the Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten, and my Deputy Leader, the Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop.
It is really good to see such a representative cross-section of the Parliament – every Party. Really, this shows that we are all totally committed to trying to ensure genuine and complete equality between men and women.
I have to say that, once upon a time, I may not have felt quite so comfortable addressing a breakfast like this as I do now. As my wife, Margie, quipped some time ago, “what is it that turns an un-reconstructed bloke into a feminist? Three daughters.”
And it is true that my views on policy towards women have changed and evolved in response to watching friends of mine, watching colleagues of mine and in particular looking at my daughters grow up and thinking what would I want for them?
What would I want for these beautiful, intelligent, sensitive girls who have so much going for them and who deserve a world which recognises all of their talents and wants to give them every possible opportunity.
Now, they are growing up in Australia and, regardless of your circumstances, Australia is the best country in the world for everything.
Anyone who is in Australian has won the lottery of life and if you look at our country and the deal that it gives to women; it is obviously pretty good. It wasn’t so long ago as a Sydney-sider that there was a female Lord Mayor, a female Premier, a female Prime Minister, a female Head of State in our Governor General, a female Monarch, obviously, and indeed the richest person in our country was female.
So, this is a nation which has smashed just about every glass ceiling, but we need to do more – we need to do more.
Now, I am not here to give a party-political broadcast this morning but I do want to say to you that I believe a fair dinkum paid parental leave scheme is an idea whose time has come.
I pay tribute to the former government for beginning the process of giving us a fair dinkum paid parental leave scheme.
As you know, the Howard Government, of which I was proudly a minister, introduced the baby bonus. The baby bonus was what you did when you didn’t want to have a paid parental leave scheme and back in my un-reconstructed days I was a strong supporter of the baby bonus. I still am for people who are not in the workforce – for parents who are not in the workforce.
The former government, to its credit, converted the baby bonus into the beginnings of a decent paid parental leave scheme and I think now we need to go further.
Now, it’s always a bit disconcerting when something happens that you don’t expect. It is a little disconcerting when a conservative, when a traditionalist such as myself, comes up with something which is not regarded as a conservative and a traditional position.
It is a bit like when Nixon went to China, conservatives thought, “my God, has he suddenly abandoned the faith?” Progressives thought, “my God, is China no longer a progressive country?” The truth is this was a historic breakthrough. This was one of those moments when people from all sides of politics needed to realise that a watershed had been reached.
So, it is, I like to think, with the Coalition support for a fair dinkum paid parental leave scheme.
Just imagine if a progressive had come up with this idea. The usual suspects would have been cheering and saying about time. But because a conservative has come up with this idea so many people are saying there must be something wrong with it.
Well, I say, don’t oppose it – embrace it. Don’t oppose it – embrace it.
Let’s drop this silly guilt by association and let’s get on with something which is unambiguously good for the women of our country, for the families of our country and for the economy of our country.
The more we can ensure that women are economic as well as social and cultural contributors, the better for everyone.
I celebrate International Women’s Day. I celebrate this month of March which is a month to focus on women and their achievements.
And I say let’s turn good intentions into real action. Let’s get on with a fair dinkum paid parental leave scheme.
Let’s give every woman a chance to combine family and career.
It is good for all of us.
Thank you.
[ends]