A historic move to Paid Parental Leave

It is time to deliver a Paid Parental Leave scheme

The Government is investing $731 million over five years to implement a Paid Parental Leave (PPL) scheme (for eligible working parents), from 1 January 2011.

Eligible primary carers earning less than $150,000 will receive taxable payments from their employer at the weekly rate of the Federal Minimum Wage — currently $543.78 — for a continuous period of up to 18 weeks.

The Government will pre‑pay statutory PPL to employers who will then make the payments to their eligible employees.

The scheme is closely based on the Productivity Commission's Inquiry Report Paid Parental Leave: Support for Parents with Newborn Children, and delivers on the Government's commitment to implement a statutory PPL scheme for Australian families.

Benefits of the scheme

The Government is taking a decisive and historic step to position Australia for the recovery. The PPL scheme will underpin higher long‑run workforce participation by helping parents to combine work and family commitments.

The PPL scheme will better enable parents, mothers in particular, to maintain attachment to their workplace. Employers will benefit through increased access to skilled employees.

In the long run this will encourage greater female workforce participation by helping to address lifetime economic impacts of mothers' childbearing and caring roles.

Parents will have the opportunity to spend more time at home, improving maternal and child health outcomes.

The statutory PPL scheme will help to achieve broader objectives of work and family life balance, gender equity and greater workforce participation.