The new national paid maternity leave scheme is a big win for Australian women and their families. After 30 years of campaigning women will now have support to keep their jobs and financial security when they have a baby. The 18 week scheme, announced in the May Federal Budget, will start from 2011 and is an important social reform giving assist families to adjust to a major life event – the birth of a baby.
Measures to allow mothers time to bond with their babies without financial stress forcing them back to work too early benefits the entire community and would not have been achieved without the tireless efforts of union and community activists.
What we have won
Eighteen weeks leave for the primary care giver – whether a full-time, part-time or casual worker. Eligible women will get payments via their employer at the Federal Minimum wage (currently $543.78). An income test of $150,000 will apply based on the primary carer’s adjusted taxable income in the previous financial year.
To be eligible for the government scheme the primary carer must be in paid work and have:
- Been engaged in work continuously for at least 10 of the 13 months prior to the expected birth or adoption of a child
- Undertaken at least 330 hours paid work in the 10 month period (an average of around one day of paid work a week)
Campaign background
Work and family balance is a matter of long-standing interest to the ACTU and working people and their families. We have consistently argued that paid maternity leave is an important workplace right that is necessary if Australia is to address the systemic disadvantage faced by women when they return to work after having a baby.
Our campaign history includes advocacy for maternity leave in the 1970s through to the early 1990s. Unions won the right to unpaid maternity leave in the private sector in 1979 and have secured paid maternity leave in many industries in the public and private sector over the past 30 years. Longstanding union activity resulted in the maternity allowance in 1993 and support for the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission report Time to Value in 2002 resulted in the Baby Bonus in 2005. In 2005 the ACTU won the case for employees’ right to request an extension of parental leave up to 24 months, the right to eight weeks of concurrent parental leave and additional allocation of leave for caring purposes.
The Howard Government was firmly against paid maternity leave and it was only with the election of the Rudd Government in 2007 that it was back on the agenda. In early 2008 the Federal Government asked the Productivity Commission to conduct an inquiry into paid maternity leave, signaling its intention to ‘bite the bullet’ on the issue. Unions rallied supporters and Your Rights at Work activists during this period – with the slogan “Mums rights at work” they were able to build a sustained national campaign involving community events, petitions and lobbying.
The ACTU argued in its submission to the Productivity Commission inquiry that maternity leave must be judged as a long term economic and social measure to boost women’s workforce participation, keep productivity on track and build a healthy and prosperous community. The Productivity Commission report Paid Parental Leave: support for parents with newborn children recommended an 18-week scheme and it was this model that was largely adopted by the Federal Government. Now we are able to count the national paid maternity leave scheme as a further gain for the union movement.
What is next? – countdown to 2011
The government scheme is a great start but it’s not perfect. Legislation is yet to be passed by the Federal Parliament and it is not yet clear if the Opposition parties will support the law required for the scheme to start in 2011. The government scheme will operate alongside employer schemes already in place and unions will campaign to ensure that the government-funded component must not be used as a substitute for existing employer-provided paid parental leave entitlements.
More importantly employers must not use the government scheme as an excuse cut paid maternity leave from agreements. There is more work to do to build on the 18-week scheme. Unions will campaign for improvements in the following priority areas:
- A requirement that employers “top-up” the government scheme so women earning above the minimum wage receive full income replacement
- Paid parental leave for fathers
- Employer payment of 9% superannuation
- Flexibility on the qualifying period
- Flexibility to allow women to take some of 18 weeks paid leave before the birth of the baby
- Adjusting the scheme to allow women the choice of taking 18 weeks paid leave at half pay over 36 weeks
More information
Sharan Burrow opinion article
Paid Parental Leave poster
Campaign archive
Paid maternity leave a vital economic measure in the 2009 budget (26.11.08)
Sharan Burrow on paid parental leave – Getup (07.10.08)
Sharan Burrow speech: Exploring key issues affecting women in the workplace
ACTU submission to the Paid Maternity Leave inquiry
Video