By JENNY MACKLIN
More than 30 years ago, when I had my first son, his father took a year off work to care for him.
It was extremely unusual back then for a dad to take some time off to look after a newborn while his mother went back to work. My partner Ross has some pretty funny stories to tell about the reaction he’d get when he was out and about with our son, particularly the stares when he took our son for his regular maternal and child health checks and was the only man in the waiting room.
All these years later, I’m not so sure whether people’s reactions today to a dad staying home would be all that different.
It’s still not something you see every day. It’s still difficult for families to balance work with caring for their newborn.
And there are good reasons why it’s often mothers who take some time off work to look after their newborn baby, for example to establish breastfeeding routines.
Because we understood how important that time with your newborn is, two years ago our Government introduced Australia’s first national paid parental leave scheme.
Since then, more than 200,000 families, many of them people who never before got any paid leave after they had a baby, have received government-funded leave.
I’m proud that we’ve been able to make it easier for these families to take time off to spend with their babies.
But we know we can do more.
And we know dads want to do more. While it’s still uncommon for dads to take a year out from work to look after the baby, today’s dads are generally more involved around the home.
However, they’re often doing this on top of their work commitments, and if they want to take any time off after their baby is born it usually involves taking unpaid leave.
That’s why today I’m releasing details of how from January 1 next year, dads and partners will also be able to access government-funded leave.
We’ll be providing two weeks of dad and partner pay at the national minimum wage, so dads and other partners, such as same-sex couples, can take some time off when their new baby is born.
Applications for dad and partner pay open today. If you are expecting a baby in the new year, I encourage you to visit this website or call 13 61 50 and find out more about the new scheme.
Today, my partner likes to tell me that it was his care in the early stages of our son’s life that led to him being the talented person he is today.
While I’m not prepared to give away all the credit for that, I do hope the work this government has been doing means that in 30 years’ time, many more parents will be having the same discussion.
Jenny Macklin is the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, and Minister for Disability Reform. Away from politics, Jenny enjoys spending time with her family, bush walking and reading Australian literature. She is also an avid supporter of the Geelong Football Club.
Would you or did you take time off to stay home when your kids were born? Did your partner share the child caring role? Do you think this new Government initiative will encourage more men to stay at home?
Top Comments
With my first born, born under the Liberal Govt, I got the baby bonus, with my second born (born last year) I had to choose between the baby bonus and the paid parental scheme, both of these programs offered me the same dollars. So claiming that the implementation of the paid parental leave scheme was a wonder to Australian women is a little OTT. Implement a year long paid parental scheme Labor and then I will worship the ground you walk on.
I work for a University, we get 26 weeks paid parental leave which we can choose to take as 1 yr at half pay if we like. This leave can go to the mum or dad, but you must nominate up front who is the primary caregiver - I did have one staff member who wanted to claim the 26 weeks parental leave, whilst his wife claimed maternity leave from her work - um, that's a no!
I had both my kids before working here, I did try to convince my husband to have a third to take advantage of the generous working conditions, but alas he was not convinced!
Iv just finished my paid parental leave and received just on 10k if I had chosen baby bonus it was 5k there is a huge difference
Sorry I don't get it. Why do Dads need maternity leave? Take a weeks/fortnight/months holiday. They aren't recovering from the physicality of birth, they aren't establishing breastfeeding. Why is the government responsible for paying for this leave?
The only justification for the government paying for male maternity leave should be for a gay man who is the primary carer for an adopted/surrogate (whatever) baby.
I await the outrage...but this is my honest opinion. It's not like someone has chaoned them to their jobs and they can't take proper leave. And most people get around 9 months notice of an impending birth. It's called planning. I am over this entitlement mentality..women and men.
At first I thought that this comment below was taking the piss..but no..actually serious!
" but how is the woman supposed to physically recover from birth, establish a routine, care for the baby, the house and herself if her partner is still at work every day?"
Good grief! When did having a baby become such a massive hardship? It's a natural part of life. It seems the more educated we've become the more useless we've become.
Parental leave is not just about physical recovery and breastfeeding, its about the importance of having at least one primary caregiver for the baby for the first year. It is important for the childs development, and as we all SHOULD know, spending a little money on child development at this age has enormous social and economical benefits for a country/community/culture in the long run. The government should be doing everything possible to keep a child with a primary caregiver full time for a full year. Not this 18 weeks rubbish which they think is good enough.
I disagree Wizz. I think 18 weeks is fantastic and that the government has done great in setting that up. I do not think that it is the governments responsibility to finance mums staying at home for a year with their children. This generation is so lucky to have any form of paid mat leave, my mum didn't. She had my siblings and I and took unpaid mat leave which they could afford to do because my father and she had planned for it. I would much prefer the government to now turn their focus and budget to other areas that are desperate for funds.
You know, I do agree re: the fathers parental leave.
I would expect my partner or husband to take at least two weeks off following the birth itself, but I don't care if it is taken as annual leave or sick leave or WHATEVER. If he is able to utilise it as paid parental leave then I see that as a BONUS not an entitlement. Even if it wasn't offered, I don't see what the problem is in taking it as annual leave.
But my interpretation of this is that it isnt so the dad can be the sole carer (for 2 weeks, which is just a blip), its as a supplement to maternity leave so the dad can spend 2 weeks at home with the mum as well.
I'm all for a parent being at home with their children for as long as possible and think 12 months should be the minimum, however I do think that paying dads for 2 weeks off is an unnecessary extravagance. I coped without my husband taking any time off and at one stage I had a newborn and 3 children under school age, so unless mum is very ill its just a token vote buying gesture.