By Greens Senator, Sarah Hanson-Young
The Australian Greens are determined to do all we can to see a quality paid parental leave scheme up and running in Australia soon.
But the scheme the Government will pass in the Lower House this week is selling Australian families short.
To make our stand stronger, we want to know why a real Paid Parental Leave Scheme is so important to you
Paid parental leave is about giving new mums and dads irreplaceable time with their babies and helping women stay in the workforce after they have children.
That’s why you need to know this about the Rudd Government’s Paid Parental Leave Scheme:
• It won’t provide parents an actual right to leave or guarantee to their job back
• It doesn’t provide any superannuation entitlement
• At only 18 weeks, it falls short of the World Health Organisation recommendation of 6 months
What would that mean for your family?
The Greens want to give Australian parents 6 months of paid leave, with super and make sure that whoever you are, you get your job back after you have a baby.
We will move amendments to the Government’s scheme in the Senate to get a better outcome for parents on this issue.
If the Government and the Coalition are fair dinkum about supporting families and working mums, they’ll back our amendments too.
That’s why we want to hear your stories.
Tell us what a really strong paid parental leave scheme would mean for you and why the major parties should back our amendments.
Your stories will make our stand stronger.
Come and tell us on our blog and send us your details if you want to be involved in the campaign: http://www.greensmps.org.au/.
Thanks for your support,
Sarah Hanson-Young.