Media Release
May 29 2008
Time to act on paid maternity leave
Pay mothers the same as Reservists
When
women take maternity leave, should Australia's working mothers be paid
less than those taking leave to do military reserve training?
In their evidence to the Productivity Commission's Inquiry into paid maternity, paternity and parental leave at 9.45am on Thursday 29 May, Australian researchers will argue that there is no good reason why Australian mothers and fathers taking leave to care for their babies should not be treated at least as well as those training for the military.
“We need to ask the question - should we value those taking leave to learn to operate a gun, more than we value those taking leave to care for their new-borns?” Professor Barbara Pocock, Co-Convenor of the Work and Family Policy Roundtable and Director of UniSA’s Centre for Work + Life says.
“Right now when employees participate in military reserve activities they are paid the equivalent of Average Weekly Ordinary Time earnings - $1070 a week.
“It is almost double the minimum wage (currently $522 a week). We can't see any good reason not to pay parents in the same way – we could use the Reservist model as a good one for paid maternity leave.”
Professor Pocock and Dr Elizabeth Hill along with other prominent Australian academic experts on work and family issues have prepared a submission to the Productivity Commission Inquiry, arguing for a government-funded basic paid maternity leave payment for 24 weeks for mothers and two weeks for fathers/supporting parents.
Their case is that the basic payment should be funded by government at the rate of average weekly ordinary time earnings or the parent's usual wage, whichever is the lower, topped up by employers to usual wages wherever possible.
“Australia is a rich country, now playing catch up with the rest of
the developed world,” Professor Pocock says.
“There is no good reason to start at the bottom. We should aspire to 12
months paid leave, at a decent rate, by 2016.”
Professor Pocock argues that it is well past time for Australia to act on paid maternity leave. She says a basic 14 week government-funded payment at minimum wage, as some are recommending, is a necessary but insufficient response.
“We support the 14 week proposal as a kind of catchup, but it is not enough in a country where women make up almost half of the workforce, and in a worldwide context where many countries now ensure that working parents can spend a year with their new babies. If we are serious about the well being of Australian children and families we need to do better than the bare basics.
“Tax is the best and fairest way to get a system working quickly. It will deliver benefits for the almost two-thirds of Australian women who get no paid maternity leave at present,” she says.
The submission from the Work and Family Policy Roundtable also argues that the baby bonus is not the same as paid leave.
“Paid maternity leave recognises and supports women's contribution to the labour market,” Prof Pocock says.
“It is essential to equality of opportunity for women at work and it gives all working mothers the chance for a decent, funded recuperation when they have a baby. It is primitive and unfair to run a labour market without such a basic provision for all women and we also need to support working fathers with some paid leave.
“The baby bonus is about recognising the costs that all families face when a baby arrives – that is quite different from paid parental leave.”
Professor Barbara Pocock is Director of the Centre for Work + Life at
the University of South Australia.
She will be putting her own views to the Productivity Commission as well
as representing those of the Work + Family Policy Roundtable, a network
of researchers from eight universities all with expertise in the field
of work and family.
The Work + Family Policy Roundtable submission is available
online
Contacts for interview
- Professor Barbara Pocock mobile 0414 244 606 email barbara.pocock@unisa.edu.au
Media contact
- Michèle Nardelli office (08) 8302 0966 mobile 0418 823 673 email michele.nardelli@unisa.edu.au