Victorian public and community sector workers are now entitled to period and reproductive leave under a collective agreement minted on Tuesday. The state Treasurer signed the agreement after two weeks of enterprise bargaining with the Community and Public Sector Union through an independent bargaining facilitator. The four-year deal will extendContinue Reading
The Albanese government is under pressure to abolish the activity test for childcare subsidies in the upcoming May budget, with crossbenchers flagging a fight to push for universal child care in the next federal election. Crossbench MPs and Greens senators detailed their plans to ramp up calls to dump meansContinue Reading
Parents could pay as little as $10 per day for childcare and receive up to 52 weeks of paid parental leave under a new draft law that will seek to make childcare free for low-income families. Early childhood advocates will launch a bill for consultation into parliament on Wednesday alongsideContinue Reading
Dads will be able to claim up to four weeks of “use it or lose it” government-funded paid parental leave from next year under big changes that will see total parental leave rise to six months. The cash amount working parents can claim is set to rise to over $22,000Continue Reading
Australia’s paid parental leave scheme has officially been expanded to 26 weeks after the government’s first tranche of reforms passed through the Senate on Monday. Under the changes, the 20 weeks of paid leave parents can access will be gradually increased up by two weeks each year from July 2024Continue Reading
Australia’s 2.5 million small businesses shouldn’t be forced to bear the burden of administering paid parental leave payments, crossbench kingmakers David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie say. As the Albanese government works to pass its planned expansion of the taxpayer funded scheme, which will bring the entitlement to 26 weeks fromContinue Reading
Businesses that want a slice of the federal government’s $70bn contracts will have to pass a new gender test, which will include the makeup of companies’ boards and workforce. The changes are under Australia’s first national strategy for gender equality that will also lead to women taking parental leave beingContinue Reading
Australian women are set to be thousands of dollars better off by the time they retire, with the government promising superannuation on paid parental leave in a landmark win for gender equality. After long citing budget restraints, the government will move to help close the gender superannuation gap, announcing parentsContinue Reading
A Project panellist has shared the cruel response her former boss had to a male colleague asking for parental leave. It comes after a historic bill was introduced to parliament last month that would increase paid parental leave from 20 to 26 weeks by July 2026. While joining the deskContinue Reading
Australia faces a severe shortage of general practitioners, as nearly one-third of the profession has signalled they will retire within the next five years. Three in 10 GPs intend to call it quits by 2028, with more and more of the general practice workforce looking to reduce their working hoursContinue Reading