PPL safe at last

Expecting parents and Australian families finally have some certainty over the Commonwealth Paid Parental Leave scheme (CPPL).

Unable to force changes through the Senate that would have blocked parents eligible for paid parental leave from accessing the Commonwealth scheme, and with little likelihood of that situation changing any time soon, the Turnbull government has quietly abandoned its plans.

This means that eligible members can continue to access 14 weeks of paid leave from the department, and also access 18 weeks of CPPL. QTU families can now plan their leave and finances with confidence, and it brings to an end two years of mayhem prompted by the federal government’s attacks on the scheme.

It is disappointing that two years of chaos and uncertainty saw our members unable to plan and experiencing unnecessary stress. The QTU received many, many calls from expecting parents unsure of whether the scheme would still be available to them.

The scheme was always intended to supplement any employer-paid leave entitlement in order to provide primary care-givers with at least six months at home with a newborn child. This aligns with World Health Organisation recommendations. Yet when the federal government announced its initial intention to rewind the CPPL scheme, ironically on Mothers’ Day 2015, Ministers labelled women who claimed their entitlements as “double dippers” and “rorters”. One member reported that she was told she was a double dipper at a Centrelink office.

Union women and activists across the country have stood united and campaigned heavily to keep the long and hard-fought-for national scheme, which provides 18 weeks of paid leave (minimum wage) to working parents. Relentless lobbying, petitioning and social media campaigns created and maintained the crucial pressure on key cross benchers in the Senate to ensure the multiple attempts to pass legislation were not successful. This is an important win for QTU members, working parents and most importantly, the babies.

Penny Spalding                                                                                                             Assistant Secretary Women and Social Welfare Issues


Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 122 No 5, 21 July 2017, p4