Page 964 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 25 February 2009
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The government has also taken significant steps in supporting early childhood development, for example, through the extension of access to preschools, the establishment of early childhood skills and the building of child and family centres in Gungahlin and Tuggeranong.
In 2008 in October the government committed to introducing in this year’s budget an additional four weeks in paid maternity leave for ACT public service employees and an additional week in bonding leave. Mr Speaker, we made this commitment because the government believes that having children and having a family should not be an impediment to the skills and contributions people bring to the workplace. It is also about choices and assisting with the work-life balance. In fact, at this point I have to thank the Leader of the Opposition for his endorsement of this commitment. On 7 October last year he said:
We wholeheartedly support it: we believe it’s a good policy and it’s a natural next step in helping women, in particular, in balancing work and family.
Current arrangements within the ACT public service provide for access after 12 months service to 14 weeks paid maternity leave and up to five days bonding leave and five days personal leave for bonding purposes. Maternity leave provisions for ACT government employees are contained in the Public Sector Management Act 1994. These provisions are supplemented by additional arrangements contained in each agency union collective agreement.
In summary, all female permanent and temporary employees who are pregnant are entitled to maternity leave. Paid paternity leave provides employees other than the mother of the child with paid leave in a similar fashion to paid maternity leave. This entitlement provides flexibility for families with newborn children. Maternity leave, while accessed by some employees, is not statistically significant. Paid carers leave, which, amongst other things, covers adoptive parents, is also supported by provisions that parallel the paid maternity leave provisions.
In addition to providing employees with access to paid maternity and other leave provisions, the ACT government has demonstrated its strong commitment to employees with family responsibilities more generally to a range of family-friendly employment conditions, including permanent part-time work, unpaid parental leave, flexible working hours, compassionate leave, bonding leave and grandparental leave. These are generous provisions which are designed to both attract and retain employees within the ACT public service and support families and early childhood development.
In considering paid maternity leave within the ACT public service, it is worth noting that Australia is ranked eighth amongst OECD nations in female labour force participation at around 58 per cent. However, the female workforce participation rate in the ACT at close to 70 per cent is significantly higher than the national average and places very real competitive pressure on employers in the ACT and potential stresses in early childhood development.
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