FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT and Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews recently scuttled the possibility of any plans for government-funded paid maternity leave, arguing that financial encouragement for having children should not be work-related.
FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT and Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews recently scuttled the possibility of any plans for government-funded paid maternity leave, arguing that financial encouragement for having children should not be work-related.
“The emphasis on short-term paid maternity leave for those in the workforce ignores the reality that parents balance their family and work responsibilities between them over decades, not just a few weeks after the birth of a child,” he said at a recent forum held at the University of Melbourne.
“While many employers offer maternity [and some paternity] provisions, and this will increase as the growth in the workforce contracts, the responsibility for encouraging and supporting children does not primarily rest upon them.”
He said that if children were critical to the future of Australia, the encouragement of parenthood and support for families was a national responsibility.
This “life course approach” was all the more important given the delay in partnering, the increase in longevity and the ageing population, he added.
“It is not primarily an issue of work, but of children. Nor is it an issue that benefits from a ‘one size fits all’ industrial approach,” he said.
“Hence, any financial benefits should be available to families whether or not they have both parents in the paid workforce. This is not only equitable, it recognises the fact that parents want the flexibility to choose their family and work arrangements over the life course.”
The comments on paid maternity leave were the Minister’s first on the subject since coming to power, and were in line with those of his predecessor Tony Abbott.
Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner Pru Goward recently put forward a proposal for a 14-week, government-funded paid maternity scheme, while the ACTU has supported the proposition that paid maternity leave benefits should be payable to parents, whether in the workforce or not.
Minister Andrews said the government was considering a number of policy options, with flexibility and choice in parent’s family and work arrangements being a priority.
“Such choice is not just about the hours worked at any one time, but about the arrangements they make over the course of their lives,” he said.
