Coalition must stop playing politics with women’s grief

Coalition MPs opposed to the Baby Priya Bill are ignoring parents’ grief in a bid to derail laws to guarantee paid parental leave for parents of stillborn children.

Coalition MPs, including Andrew Hastie and Barnaby Joyce, have challenged the laws currently before the Senate, cynically exploiting women’s grief to raise their opposition to women undergoing late-term abortions.

The Baby Priya Bill seeks to amend the Fair Work Act to enable a parent to keep receiving employer-funded parental leave in the event of a stillbirth or a death shortly afterwards.

The Bill was drafted in response to the tragic circumstances of a woman whose baby Priya died after 43 days, and her private sector employer cancelled her paid parental leave on the grounds that she no longer qualified.

The Coalition MPs standing in the way of the Bill are playing a hard-hearted far-right brand of politics, that ignores the obvious need for women and their families to receive paid parental leave while dealing with the grief surrounding a stillbirth or newborn’s death.

Ensuring that parents of stillborn children can access government and other employer-funded paid parental leave is an election commitment of the Albanese Government, following lobbying by Australian Unions to stop women and families being left financially unsupported during a critical time of need.

Quotes attributable to ACTU President, Michele O’Neil:

“Barnaby Joyce and Andrew Hastie need to get out of the way and let the Senate pass this much-needed Bill. Their behaviour is deeply offensive to women, they need to get out of the way and let the Senate pass this much-needed Bill. They are targeting women when they are grieving and at their most vulnerable.

“The Baby Priya Bill is designed to give certainty to grieving parents so they know they can expect to have paid parental leave if they ever have to face these tragic circumstances.

“Baby Priya’s mother was in Parliament when the bill was introduced. She is looking forward to having it made law so that other families are not left with the sudden withdrawal of paid parental leave at the time they need it most.

“This bill will mean employers can’t cancel paid parental leave if a child is stillborn or dies. Australian unions are tired of men on the far right of politics getting in the way of what is critical legislation for women and their families.

“Barnaby Joyce and Andrew Hastie need to stop trying to control women and focus on their day jobs to serve the community. They are seeking to make the lives of working women and mothers tougher than they already are.”