Time for action on parental leave (2009)

Time for action on parental leave

Author: Elizabeth Broderick

Publication: The Age (Friday, 10 April 2009)

HELLO! Is anyone listening? I am the fourth sex discrimination commissioner to argue for a government-funded national scheme of paid parental leave, and I pray that I am the last. Yesterday the "Attitudes to maternity leave in Australia" survey was released, showing yet again that Australians across the board are in favour of this kind of scheme.

Two out of three people want funding for paid parental leave included in the May budget. This includes older people, younger people, men and women from all socio-economic backgrounds.

"About time!" one supporter blogged. "We would have to be one of the last governments in the modern world that does not provide any paid parental leave."

Of course there are still some opposing voices. Another blogger said: "In the current climate, this is a luxury we just can't afford … how about we get the economy stable before more massive spending."

Yet I can assure you that there is a growing consensus — joined this week by the Australia Institute and the Productivity Commission — that paid parental leave will contribute to economic growth.

I am increasingly confident that politicians of all persuasions are listening and do support, in principle, a paid parental leave scheme. That being the case, the question we should be considering is how do we ensure that such as scheme achieves results.

To date, most of the public debate has centred on whether we will get a scheme. Now, as we move into critical budget discussions, we should also be focusing on the checks and balances that need to be in place for it to work successfully.

The Federal Government has started well by asking the Productivity Commission to consider the type of scheme that would work best in Australia.

Having spent 20 years in the business world, I have learnt that the critical components of any successful program must include education, monitoring and independent review. A national paid parental leave scheme is no different.

We only need to look to the experience in California to see what can go wrong. In 2004, California introduced a state-based paid parental leave scheme because there was no national scheme. However, three years after its introduction, only 28 per cent of Californians were aware that they had this entitlement and, frighteningly, those who needed it most, such as low-income earners, were the least likely to know about it.

This is a risk we cannot afford to take. We should learn from the Californian experience, particularly when looking at how the scheme will work for small business. Education is critically important for ensuring that employers and employees know how the scheme works. Without a concerted education campaign, the very workers who should benefit most will miss out.

It is also clear that we need a strong research and evaluation framework that will allow us to monitor the success of a national paid parental leave scheme.

In other countries, proper monitoring has informed improvements to their paid parental leave schemes. The type of data we need to track carefully includes understanding how many people have used the scheme; what impact the scheme has had on women's workforce participation and retention rates; what impact the scheme has had on family relationships and maternal and child wellbeing; what is the take-up rate for fathers; and whether the scheme has enabled parents to better share care?

Of course, to get any scheme up and running will need legislation to be passed by Parliament, which we all know is no easy feat. As with most things in life, we might not get it completely right the first time but we must start somewhere and build from there.

The May budget is just the perfect place to start.

But it should be just that, a starting point, and a legislated independent review several years after it begins must be part of the package. This would mean that all stakeholders, including members of the public, would have a say in how the scheme has been working and how it can be improved.

We can have the best paid parental leave scheme in the world, but if we don't have the strategies in place to make sure it works, no one will benefit. Strong policy initiatives need to be backed by education, monitoring and resources to give them the best chance of success.

Yesterday's poll found that most Australians, irrespective of age, gender or income, favour funding for paid parental leave in the next budget, despite the economic slowdown.

Let's hope that this happens and that the argy-bargy of political point-scoring that will inevitably follow will not derail what is one of the most important pieces of social infrastructure of our time.

Elizabeth Broderick is Australia's Sex Discrimination Commissioner.