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Paid maternity leave battle reignited |
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| 02-10-2008 |
 In June last year, hundreds of people braved the wet weather to urge the Federal Government to reconsider its position on paid maternity leave. A year on from the launch of Marie Clare's "Push it - Paid Maternity Leave" campaign, Australia is a step closer to achieving the campaign's goal. This week, The Australian Productivity Commission recommended that the government fund 18 weeks maternity leave for mothers and 2 weeks maternity leave for fathers or partners... Commenting on the recommendations, Mission Australia CEO, Toby Hall said "It is unacceptable that Australia is one of only two OECD countries without paid maternity leave. Australia has lacked credibility in this area for far too long. We applaud the Commission's recommendations." Mission Australia introduced nine weeks paid maternity for employees in 2007. Of its 3,500 staff, close to 70% are women, so the move to paid maternity leave was both a moral and practical decision. As an organisation that believes strongly in family and children, Mission Australia sees the role of the mother or care giver as one of the most important jobs in Australia. Paid maternity leave is a key component of a wider strategy to address Australia's woeful record in early childhood support. While paid maternity leave will go a long way to supporting mothers and families financially, further investment in early childhood is required to ensure that kids in disadvantaged communities get the best start in life. Programs such as Mission Australia's Pathways to Prevention are producing exceptional results among vulnerable parents and their young children with family-oriented initiatives that improve communication and language skills, reduce difficult behaviour and foster family connectedness. Research also suggests that programs similar to Pathways produce savings for the whole community, in terms of spending on health, welfare and justice systems. Introducing paid maternity leave in Australia would be a great first step, it's now up to the Rudd Government to pick up the Commission's recommendations and run with it.
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