Paid Maternity Leave Vital For Families And The Economy
Type: Union News Subject: Women
1 May 2008
Elizabeth Broderick, HREOC Sex Discrimination Commissioner
Unions, business, and the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) have joined forces in a call for a national, taxpayer-funded paid maternity leave scheme for all Australian women.
HREOC Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick, ACTU President Sharan Burrow and Australian Industry Group (AIG) CEO Heather Ridout demonstrated their commitment to the cause by issuing an unprecedented combined press release and co-authoring an article in the national media last month.
'In an extremely tight labour market Australia's continuing economic prosperity depends on encouraging more women back into the paid workforce after they've had children,' said Ms Burrow.
'At the moment, Australia has one of the lowest workforce participation rates in the OECD for women aged 25 to 44 - part of the problem is a lack of paid maternity leave and other measures to support primary carers.'
Ms Broderick says the coming together of the three influential organisations is a watershed moment in the long campaign for Australia to catch up with the international community on paid maternity leave.
'Two-thirds of Australian women have no access to paid maternity leave. HREOC has long recommended a national, government-funded, 14-week paid maternity leave scheme as a basic minimum standard for Australian women,' she said.
Australian Industry Group Chief Executive Heather Ridout said the AI Group supports an appropriate period of publicly-funded paid maternity leave, consistent with community and international standards and at the level of the federal minimum wage.
'There is no doubt that a national maternity leave scheme would deliver tangible benefits to business, employees and to the broader economy and society and, of course, for the children themselves,' she said.
The ACTU, AIG and HREOC will make individual submissions to the Productivity Commission, currently examining the merits of a national scheme on behalf of the Federal Government.
The Commission has been asked by the Federal Government to conduct a thorough examination, and provide an opportunity for public participation, and submit a report to the government for public release by February 2009.
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