Mr PORTER (Pearce—Minister for Social Services) (14:16): The question was obviously in two parts, and, despite a very clumsy effort to pretend that they were the same thing, they are very different. One was with respect to penalty rates, which, of course, does not affect nurses at all in any way, shape or form. Government members interjecting— The SPEAKER: Members on my right. Mr PORTER: Notwithstanding what members opposite would like to be able to twist and manipulate and lie about here in the House, it has absolutely nothing to do with and has no reach whatsoever with respect to nurses. Ms Kate Ellis interjecting— The SPEAKER: The member for Adelaide! Mr PORTER: With respect to the portion of the question that dealt with paid parental leave, what the Labor Party presently does not support with respect to paid parental leave—that is to say, the government's proposition and policy with respect to paid parental leave—is near to 60 per cent of all families who receive paid parental leave having a very substantial average gain of $1,300 during the period of paid parental leave. That is what you are opposing. That group of 58 per cent, which is 96,310 recipients, is the lowest income earners inside the paid parental leave system. Ms Macklin: We're talking about cuts to nurses. The SPEAKER: The member for Jagajaga! Mr PORTER: What the members opposite oppose is a policy position which is two extra weeks and $1,300 extra to 60 per cent of the recipients of paid parental leave, where those recipients of paid parental leave are the lowest income earners in the system. There once was a time where members opposite believed that welfare, that payments, that paid parental leave should focus on those in the system that are the least well off themselves, that earn the lowest incomes themselves. There once was a time when members opposite believed the focus of payments in the government system should be on those who are unable to provide for themselves, and what we say is that the focus should be on those people who earn the least and who receive the least. That has been the focus of our reforms in paid parental leave, those have been the reforms that we have focused on in child care, and they are the reforms that you oppose: reforms that benefit those people at the lower end of the system. Ms Burney interjecting— The SPEAKER: The member for Barton!