Australia's Paid Parental Leave Policy: Evaluating a decade of evidence - LP&R Network Meeting June 21-22, 2022

3 Examine data reported to WGEA 2014-2019, and the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency 2009-2012, on • incidence of paid leave for parenting • duration of paid leave for parenting • how the leave is paid i.e. [...] top up to government scheme or full pay in addition to government scheme PUBLIC POLICY: THE ORIGINAL SCHEME Australia’s Parental Leave Pay scheme: 18 weeks Parental Leave Pay at the National Minimum Wage ($812pw/$21.38ph), made to the ‘primary carer’ of an infant, provided they meet a work test, an income test, a residency test Is ‘parental leave’ in name, the entitlement is conferred to the ‘b. [...] PUBLIC POLICY, 12-weeks must be used in one block in the first 12 months and remaining 6 weeks can be used at any time, by any CHANGES SINCE parent, within the first 2 years This allows mothers to take a portion of the leave period 2010 flexibly, and more easy sharing between parents BUT, the same limits of low wage replacement rates and short duration likely to impede use by fathers and partn. [...] About 1/10 employers do it by topping up the government scheme Between 2014-2019, the average duration of paid parental leave for primary carers increased from 10.6 to 10.7 weeks RESULTS – *** COMPANY Between 2014 and 2019, the proportion of employers providing paid parental leave for secondary carers increased from 38.8 to 43.8%. [...] POLICIES Between 2014-2019, the average duration of paid parental leave for the secondary carer increased from 1.5-1.7 weeks *** 95% of primary carer paid parental leave was taken by mothers 95% of secondary carer paid parental leave was taken by fathers (ABS, 2017) While the introduction of the government scheme has seen the state play a stronger role (Baird and O’Brien), collective bargaining a.