A Paid Parental Leave Scheme For Australia

Key Point

• The Productivity Commission's draft report highlights the need for a paid parental leave scheme, focusing on the sharing of parental caring responsibilities, Government-funded paid leave and long-term engagement and attachment to the workforce over the life cycle.

The issue of paid parental leave has reached new levels of prominence as a result of the increasing role of women as simultaneous carers, workers and providers of income, coupled with the changes in men's roles in caring for and rearing children. With this in mind, the Federal Government, in delivering its election commitment asked the Productivity Commission to examine the ways the Government may be able to provide support to parents with newborn children.