What’s Going on with Paid Parental Leave?

With news breaking over the weekend that the Government is looking to shelve their latest and greatest Paid Parental Leave policy, SAHM decided to have a look at the facts surrounding the revision to PPL and help us all understand what is going on with this government initiative designed to help Australian parents.

There has certainly been a bright spotlight placed on Paid Parental Leave since the Abbott Government brought forward their proposed changes to the existing Paid Parental Leave scheme, currently paid at minimum wage for 18 weeks, and possible to access even if your employer has an existing maternity leave scheme. There are of course, many rules and regulations to qualify for this payment primarily being employed before having your baby. The Government is looking to increase the amount paid from minimum wage, to matching your pre-baby salary capped at $50,000 for 6 months.

Before PPL was introduced there was the Baby Bonus, which no doubt was initially implemented to provide an incentive or to stimulate population growth and provide a Paid Parental Scheme of sorts for Australian mothers, whether they worked or not, before having a baby.

The Baby Bonus still exists (now called the Newborn Supplement) but in recent years has been drastically slashed and rebranded as your only other option if you don’t qualify for PPL (of course, you have to meet the specific criteria to be eligible for this payment too).

Where we now find ourselves, as potentially expectant mothers, is totally unsure of what is happening with PPL. The Government has hit back at claims the revised PPL bill is to be shelved, saying they have plenty of time to get it through once the budget is settled, in time for its planned 1 July 2015 roll out.

Which leaves the possibility that stay at home mums are being faced with potentially no paid support when we have a baby. Many folks are coming out in support of no PPL for Stay at Home Mums, saying that seeing as they haven’t been in the workforce and paid taxes, why should they be entitled to benefits that are paid for by others paying tax. But are they totally missing the point?  It seems that the role of a SAHM in today’s society is being forgotten, in that SAHM’s are integral to building the Australia we all hope our taxes are paying for by bearing the kids to keep that taxation ball rolling.

But by proposing a revised PPL system that is too generous to the better-off, and failing to address the larger child care problems facing SAHM, WAHM, and working mothers, perhaps the policy does need some time on the back burners?

While the current PPL scheme may not be viewed by all as generous, it certainly helps more mothers stay off work a little longer, or even help influence their decision to start a family. As did the Baby Bonus before it.

But if the Government’s plan is to sweeten the deal for those who arguably may have been able to afford to have a baby either way, their short sighted view of challenges faced by Australian mothers wanting to work or study after having a family is laughably out of touch.

What Australian mothers need is to be able to access to quality childcare services at an affordable cost to their family. Many families find themselves in a loop of wanting to find work, but not being able to find a permanent childcare placement, or in the case of families with multiple small children, facing a cost so prohibitive, it is not worth returning to the workforce.

So if that is the plan Tony, we are happy to wait and see.

What do you think of the proposed changes to PPL? Do Government benefits influence your decision when it comes to starting or expanding your family? Is the Abbott Government out of touch with the average Aussie family and should they focus on childcare rather than PPL? We’d love to hear your thoughts.