Paid parental leave will increase to 20 weeks from July this year

The Labor Government under PM Anthony Albanese has taken a step in the right direction for improving paid parental leave for modern families.

The Senate today approved changes to the Paid Parental Leave Amendment which will support women’s workforce participation and help more dads and partners to take leave and care for their children.

The new plan is aimed at closing the current gender gap and from July 1, 2023 will allow parents to access 20 weeks of government-funded leave, a game changer for modern Australian families.

The increase in paid leave is the result of combining the current maximum of 18 weeks of parental leave pay with the current two weeks of dad and partner pay. Dad and partner pay will be scrapped.

The law will also no longer give preference to ‘primary carers’ or ‘birth parents’ in allocating leave, instead giving families increased flexibility in how they take leave and encourages parents to share care to promote gender equality.

In two-parent families, access to the full 20 weeks will be conditional on each parent taking at least two weeks.

Under this change, single parents will be able to claim the full 20 weeks paid parental leave.

Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth says: “Improving paid parental leave is a critical, nation-building reform. Paid Parental Leave is vital for the health and wellbeing of parents and their children.”

“We know that investing in paid parental leave benefits our economy. And we know that done right, paid parental leave – both Government and employer schemes – can advance gender equality.

“Around 180,000 Australian families take up this benefit each year and they will now be able to share their entitlement in the way that best suits their circumstances.”

The changes will come into effect for parents whose children are born or adopted from July 1, 2023.

The government has also proposed to raise the amount of leave from 20 to 26 weeks by 2026.