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A Time to Value - Media Pack


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A Time to Value - Proposal for a National Paid Maternity Leave Scheme

Media Pack

11 December 2002

Paid Maternity
Leave: A Time to Value

Federal Sex Discrimination
Commissioner Pru Goward has today released her final paper, A Time
to Value: Proposal for a national scheme of paid maternity leave.

The paper proposes
a national scheme of paid maternity leave, entirely government funded,
available to women in paid work at the time of the birth of a child.
Women who have been in paid work for 40 of the 52 weeks before the birth
of their child, including small business women, contractors and other
self-employed, casual and part time workers, would be eligible.

The Human Rights
and Equal Opportunity Commission commissioned the independent National
Centre for Social and Economic Modeling (NATSEM) to model and cost the
proposal. NATSEM's final costing is estimated to be $213 million in
2003-04, if offset against savings in payments under other schemes and
additional tax collections, well below any other publicly available
estimates. Without offsets, the total cost is estimated at $460 million
in 2003-04.

"NATSEM's
figures show this scheme is an affordable first step for Australia,"
said Commissioner Goward. "Combined with other family payments
it means that Australia would then be supporting all young families
for those first few precious months, irrespective of whether or not
the mother later returns to paid work."

The model assumes
each eligible woman would be entitled to 14 weeks income replacement
at a rate of up to the Federal Minimum Wage, currently at $431.00 per
week. That is, full wage replacement for a woman earning the minimum
wage who remains out of the workforce and at home with her child for
those weeks. HREOC also recommends that the payment not be means tested
but that women receiving the payment shall not receive the Maternity
Allowance, Family Tax Benefits A and B for those weeks of paid maternity
leave and the first twelve months of the Baby Bonus. Women would also
pay tax on this payment.

Launching the paper
in Sydney today, Commissioner Goward said: "This scheme would be
of most benefit to women in low-paid, low-skilled jobs. These are women
whose employers don't offer paid maternity leave and who do not have
the bargaining power to negotiate a workplace agreement with this leave
included."

HREOC based its
recommendations on the national round of consultations with employers
and employer groups, unions, women's groups and the community earlier
in 2002. The Commissioner has consulted in every State and Territory
capital as well as in some regional centres.

HREOC received
over 250 written submissions from employers and employer groups, unions,
women's groups, community groups, Government, academics, individuals,
health professionals, legal organisations and other interested parties.
Overwhelmingly submissions supported the introduction of a national
scheme of government funded paid maternity leave. Most believed the
scheme would enable Australian women to afford to take leave after the
birth of the child, thus directly benefiting the mother and the health,
wellbeing and development of the baby.

Commissioner Goward
said employers should not be forced to pay for this scheme. But she
said, if a government funded scheme was introduced, employers should
be encouraged to top up the benefits to give more generous arrangements.

"It is not
sensible for employers to be forced to pay for maternity leave,"
she said. "It is in the national interest that women, whether in
paid work or not, are able to properly care for their children in the
first few months. It is a national responsibility. Almost all other
OECD countries do not require employers to pay maternity leave directly
to their employees. Employer pays is not an option for Australia".

Although there
was strong support for allowing fathers to be eligible for the benefit
(but only one parent to receive the payment) the Commissioner considers
that a period of 14 weeks is too short to allow the payment to be a
matter of parental choice.

"Women physically
bear children, give birth and breastfeed," Commissioner Goward
said. Women can neither recover nor breastfeed satisfactorily if they
are back on an assembly line in six weeks."

A Time to Value summarises the health and wellbeing as well as social, economic and
industrial benefits of the proposed scheme. It is based upon the recognition
that women suffer systemic disadvantage over their lives because of
their reproductive role. The paper puts it in the context of rapid socio-economic
change in Australia over the past 20 years. The nub of the argument,
however, is the high proportion of mothers who return to paid work before
their child's first birthday, largely because of financial pressure.
These children are often in low income families where there is less
access to employer-provided paid maternity leave.

The final report
has been released at a time that enables the Federal Government to consider
the inclusion of such a scheme in the 2003 Budget. Commissioner Goward
urges the Government to introduce Paid Maternity Leave in the national
interest.

"Paid maternity
leave is about providing valuable time to women with their new babies
and a national scheme is well overdue," said Commissioner Goward.
"It's about time."


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