Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced cuts to the federal government’s Paid Parental Leave scheme on Mothers’ Day.  New parents who are entitled to receive employer-funded primary carers leave payments will have their government-funded parental payments reduced or, in many cases, cut altogether.  Abbott’s poorly named ‘Fairer Paid Parental Leave Amendment Bill’ will deny access to government-funded paid parental leave to 46% of Australian women.  Access to 26 weeks paid parental leave is advocated by the World Health Organisation as optimal for the health and well-being of mothers and babies, and supports increased participation of mothers in the workforce.  The current government scheme was designed to compliment existing employer schemes in an effort to achieve the optimal 26 weeks paid leave.  Instead, the Abbott government has painted new parents accessing both government and employer schemes as ‘rorters’ or ‘double dippers’, and has specifically taken aim at public sector workers, noting that they would be accessing two schemes funded by tax-payers.

The ‘Fairer Paid Parental Leave Amendment Bill’ has been referred to a Senate committee for an inquiry and report and CPSU SPSF has made a submission on behalf of our members. 

The committee is due to hand down it’s report on 15 September. In the meantime, Australian Unions are putting pressure on Senate cross-benchers to stand up for working families and vote against Abbott’s cuts to paid parental leave.

You can sign the petition here: