Minister for Industrial Relations, Christian Porter has announced plans to increase parental leave entitlements to support families dealing with traumatic birth situations.
“The Government understands how devastating losing a child can be and recognises that the current entitlement of just six weeks of guaranteed unpaid parental leave is insufficient for many parents who need more time before they return to work,” Mr Porter said.
“That is why we want to increase the entitlement for those who’ve experienced a stillbirth or infant death to a maximum of 12 months — the same amount of unpaid leave parents of healthy babies can access.”
He said that while not all parents would want to use the full 12 months on offer, it was important that the option was available to them should they need it.
Mr Porter said that for parents of premature babies, or babies that experienced birth-related complications that resulted in immediate hospitalisation, the Government would also remove the barrier that currently prevented parents from going back to work and restarting their leave when their baby was ready to leave hospital.
“Parents have told us how frustrated they felt by having to use up large amounts of their leave while their little one was in hospital, instead of being able to put it on hold until they needed it,” Mr Porter said.
“These changes will give parents that flexibility and ensure they will get to spend quality time at home with their child when they leave hospital,” he said.
