Families with a new baby to receive 6 months Paid Parental Leave!

In the biggest shakeup to Australia’s Paid Parental Leave (PPL) scheme, since inception, families with a new baby will receive an extra six weeks of paid leave, increasing the total amount payable to 26 weeks, or six months. 

The current system, introduced by the former Labor Government in 2011, gives families with a newborn 20 weeks or 100 days of paid leave. This is comprised of a continuous PPL period of up to 12 weeks/60 days, 30 flexible days and up to 10 days of Dad and Partner Pay for families with two parents.   

From July next year, the government will introduce the first round of reforms to modernise the PPL system and improve flexibility.

Then, from 1 July 2024, the government will start expanding the scheme by adding two additional weeks of paid leave per year, until parents are receiving the full 26-week entitlement by 1 July 2026.

While we don’t know all the details just yet, the government has said that families will be able to take the extended PPL in blocks between periods of paid work, and single parent families will be entitled to the full 26-week allocation.

Also, the government will maintain ‘use it or lose it’ weeks to encourage more dads and partners to access PPL.

Increasing PPL was a hot topic at the government’s Jobs and Skills Summit held in September and the government says this move will boost productivity while enabling parents to enjoy those precious first few months with their newborn,

“This is a modern policy to support modern families,” said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“We know that investing in parental leave benefits our economy. It is good for productivity and participation, it’s good for families and it’s good for our country as a whole.

“More generous and more flexible paid parental leave rewards aspiration and provides every parent of a new baby with greater choice and better support.”

The inaugural Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce, chaired by Sam Mostyn AO, will examine the best way of delivering the expanded 26 weeks PPL to families, including what mix of flexible weeks and ‘use it or lose it’ will deliver the best outcome for families and encourage more shared parenting. More details will be released on Budget night.

Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth said boosting women’s workforce participation and encouraging more dads to take parental leave was a priority.

“This will benefit mums, it will benefit dads, it’s good for children, and it will be a huge boost to the economy. We know that treating parenting as an equal partnership helps to improve gender equality,” she said.

Minister for Women and Minister for Finance, Senator Katy Gallagher said the funding boost for families would improve individual choice but also have flow on benefits to the broader economy.

“Having a child shouldn’t be an economic barrier for families or indeed act as a handbrake on the broader economy.

“Right now, this burden is borne disproportionately by women but we know that good women’s policy is also good economic policy and this decision is evidence of that,” she said.

Benjamin Balk, Founder and CEO of KindiCare, said the boost to the paid parental leave scheme in the coming years will provide families with more flexibility and time following a new addition to the family - and brings Australia more into line with other OECD countries globally.

"The increase and changes to the paid parental leave scheme will enable more dads and partners to spend time with new bubs to form the important bonds that all parents should have with their kids. It just makes sense. It's great for parents and children and a win for the economy."