Eva Cox, Chair of WEL
At last- we have a government committing to paid parental leave! This is the real good news: the government is prepared to acknowledge a clear unequivocal financial relationship between the workplace and parenting. This is the first time that there will be a specific publicly funded program that makes the connection explicit. We have had programs directed to reinforce the ‘choice’ of non working mothers, such as Family Tax Benefit B but not those in paid work, as even the child care funding also covers those who are not employed.This connection needs to be celebrated as a basic shift in the political perception of legitimate time off for the care of others. It has been a long time coming as shown by two near misses; one under Keating and another the Baby Bonus, Both converted a maternity leave possibility into a welfare payment for all mothers. This time it is clearly labelled leave and has a workforce entitlement component. Hooray!
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