Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on North Coast to talk paid parental leave, social enterprise work
Frustrated protesters stirred up about local and national issues have stormed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to the North Coast. Here’s what happened.
Regional News
Don't miss out on the headlines from Regional News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Frustrated protesters have stormed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to the North Coast.
Mr Albanese has been at Bangalow in the Byron Shire on Wednesday to open a social enterprise laundry and at Ballina to chat with parents and spruik paid parental leave changes.
But the Labor leader was dogged by protesters on local issues – including the long-flagged Wallum development at Brunswick Heads in the shire, as well as those voicing support for Palestine.
More information has been sought from Save Wallum, a group thought to have been involved.
It came as Mr Albanese opened the Bangalow Social Enterprise Laundry, or Beacon Laundy.
Funding was an election commitment and the opening was also attended by Richmond MP Justine Elliot, based in the Tweed.
The Federal government chipped in $750,000 to help deliver the multimillion-dollar laundry, which supported about 20 jobs during construction and is due to support another 65.
The laundry will provide job and development opportunities for disadvantaged people in the community and services for hotels and other businesses.
It comes after Byron recorded more rough sleepers in a headcount than the City of Sydney mid-last year – and as local homelessness service Fletcher St Cottage has been battling for funding.
And more than two years on from the record 2022 floods, a housing shortfall is more stark than ever.
The Byron Shire News sought a sit down interview with Mr Albanese to speak about the ongoing flood recovery and other regional issues, but that did not occur on Wednesday.
He said: “My government is focused on building an economy that works for people, not the other way around.”
“We want to ensure everybody who wants a secure, good paying job can access one and earn the economic security to make a good life for themselves and their families,” he said.
“We committed almost $200 million in last year’s budget to tackle entrenched disadvantage and support social enterprises.”
Ms Elliot said the government was ticking off an election commitment.
“ … I promised that an Albanese Labor government would invest $750,000 in the project and today that funding can be seen in action with the laundry now up and running and employing sixty locals,” she said.
“The Beacon Laundry provides vital job opportunities for long-term unemployed locals where they gain work experience and receive ongoing training in a fully supported environment.
“The laundry will also be of huge benefit to our local tourism industry, as we didn’t have a large-scale commercial laundry on the North Coast. Beacon Laundry now provides a local laundry option for businesses in the tourism and hospitality sector, a sector which supports the livelihoods of thousands of locals.”
Mr Albanese and Ms Elliot then met with The Parenthood CEO Georgie Dent at Ballina to speak about parental leave changes set to come into play on July 1, 2025.
Ms Dent said reforms were significant and welcomed. She’s celebrating “the expansion to 26 weeks by 2026, the inclusion of superannuation and increased flexibility”.
“Every parent here today is grateful for the opportunity to speak directly with the Prime Minister about their own reality juggling their care responsibilities, with being able to financially provide for their families,” she said.
“Every additional week of paid leave that families can access in the first year of a child’s life makes a profound difference – to the baby and parents.”
“In addition to being a key health policy, supporting parents to share the responsibilities of caregiving, an equitable paid parental leave policy is a game changer for mums, dads, and children.”
Ms Dent said the changes should lead “to improved mental health for mums and dads and it gives parents the ability to truly share the care”.
“That better equips mums to return to work when they’re ready which boosts productivity,” she said.
“To truly advance towards gender equality, we need universal access to affordable early childhood education and care.”
Mr Albanese said: “We know that all mums are super and I certainly had a super Mum in my life who made an enormous difference.”
“People shouldn’t miss out on their super while they are being supermums and that’s what this reform will do: make sure that over a lifetime of work, women aren’t falling behind and aren’t retiring with less income.”
Mr Albanese said women aged over 50 were the fastest growing demographic to fall into poverty and not having proper access to super was a problem.
“If there’s a family break down they find themselves in a real economic predicament,” he said.
Ballina mum Caitlin Island said of paid parental leave: “I’ve been able to have longer off work which is really essential because child care is really hard to get into in this region.”
“The changes to the super is really exciting for future parents because it’s so important for women’s financial independence later in life,” she said.
“Women generally retire with less money than men do and a lot of them suffer from homelessness later in their lives, so I think it’s important they get the same super as men do while they are at home raising children.”
“Women are such an important part of our economy, it would all collapse if we weren’t at home looking after the children
Another Ballina mother, Tarla Lambert-Patel, said the reforms were an encouraging step forward.
“Obviously the system before was quite inadequate. 18 weeks at minimum wage was not sufficient so it’s good to see the government making headway,” she said.
“It will be a big game changer for parents, broadly. It enables parents to take the time out they need and come back to work when they are ready, and historically that’s not been something women have been able to do.
“I think we could go further.”
More Coverage
Read related topics:Anthony Albanese
Join the conversation
More Krieg? Lismore voters say ‘yes please’ as recovery drags on
Voters have shown confidence in incumbent Lismore Mayor Steve Krieg. He describes his time in the job as “turbulent”, but productive. Here’s the latest on the council election.
Read more
Got what it takes? Police scoping out future crime-fighters
Police have kickstarted a new initiative on the Mid-North Coast in efforts to lock in future officers across regional NSW. Here’s what’s happening.
Read more