The Albanese goverment will pay superannuation on paid parental leave, in a $1.1bn budget Mother’s Day announcement .
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Sunday undertook a breakfast television blitz to spruik his Tuesday’s federal budget.
Mr Chalmers said the initial outlay for the super announcement will be $1.1bn in this year’s budget , then when it’s up and running, it’ll be more than $600m a year after that.
“It’s a really important investment. You know, when mums or dads go on the government paid parental leave system, they shouldn’t be missing out on superannuation,” he told Nine’s Weekend Today.
“So we are stepping in.”
The measure will help women in particular who until now had missed out on super while on parental leave.
“We recognise that when people are making difficult choices about whether to have kids, we need to support them with paid parental leave, which we’ve extended super on paid parental leave,” he said.
Last week Mr Chalmers, himself a father of three, flagged additional support in the budget for Australian families to have more children if they wished.
Australia’s recent surge in population growth, buoyed by a soaring migration intake, has become a hot button political issue, and has led to calls for the government to bolster natural population growth rather than solely rely on international arrivals.
The Treasurer said other measures to help families including billions of dollars for early childhood education.
More to come