Anthony Albanese ‘set to raise paid parental leave to 26 weeks’ to help more women enter the workforce
- PM to make sweeping change to the parental leave scheme
- Anthony Albanese aiming to address gender equity
- Paid parents leave ‘to rise from 18 to 26 weeks in 2026’
Paid parental leave is set to be raised from 18 to 26 weeks in a major policy supported by federal cabinet ministers ahead of the October 25 budget.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the ministers backed the move on Friday afternoon, and will be the main announcement in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s speech to the NSW Labor conference in Sydney on Saturday afternoon.
It is believed the 26 weeks leave will be introduced in 2026.
Mr Albanese told reporters he would have more to say on the matter but that helping women into the workforce was ‘low-hanging fruit’ to improve the economy.
‘We need to maximise women’s economic participation in the interests of family budgets but also in the interests of our national economy,’ he said.
The Prime Minister said Australia was ‘towards the bottom’ compared to other advanced democracies when it came to paid parental leave.
‘We’ll make announcements when we make them. But we’ve said consistently paid parental leave is something that Labor has championed. It’s something that we’ve said we would like to do more,’ he said.
Anthony Albanese (above) said addressing gender equity in the workforce was ‘low-hanging fruit’ to improve the economy as he hints he may increase the length of paid parental leave
New reforms could see parents paid out for eight further weeks of parental leave (above, stock image of a young mother) in a bid to allow more women to stay in the workforce
‘One of the things about paid parental leave that we need to do, just like we need to do with childcare, is to increase women’s workforce participation, to make sure that they can stay in the workforce, to build productivity for companies as well as by boosting their living standards.’
Mr Albanese said people having families was good for the economy as well as for individuals.
‘And so Labor will always do what we can to provide more support, but I’ll have more to say about that over the coming period,’ he said.
As it stands, eligible working parents who are the primary carer of a newborn can receive 18 weeks of parental leave pay at the national minimum wage.
Secondary carers such as fathers or partners can receive pay for up to two weeks.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions has called on the Albanese government to increase paid parental leave to 26 weeks initially, before extending it to 52 weeks by 2030.