"It's important that either myself or my wife is with her and to see her growth and development for when she crawls for the first time or stands up for the first time," he said.

"We both wanted to spend time with her and we're prepared to take the salary sacrifice and career risk to do that, but we don't want to miss this."

The Hackett father took leave from his job at Australia Post following the end of his wife's maternity leave at her position with the NSW government, and has now spent seven months being the primary carer of his newborn daughter.

"We had decided if we were having a child that we would prioritise my wife's career over mine and so we both had the opportunity to spend time with our new child and not be both chasing our careers at the same time," he said.

"Once the mum stops breastfeeding, there's nothing that the child needs on a daily basis that has to come from the mother, and both parents can do the parenting."

While Mr Kirby is spending valuable time being the primary carer for his child, he is in the minority according to new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Figures from the bureau show just one in 20 dads take primary parental leave, with 95 per cent of all primary leave taken by the mother.

In 2016, 84,884 mums took parental leave in the private sector compared to just 33,306 dads.

"Overall, managers were more likely to use parental leave than those in non-managerial roles," ABS household characteristics and social reporting director Dean Adams said.

"Dads who work in the financial and insurance services industry and mums working in mining were the most likely to take primary parental leave."

Mr Kirby said the societal expectation of the mother being the primary carer of a child was still prevalent in many workplaces in 2017.

"Employers need to recognise that the act of parenting is a pretty hands-on business, and not just a woman giving birth to a child," he said.

"Mums being the primary carer is still expected as normal, and that's been kind of how it initially was with family and friends, it strikes them as a bit strange."

According to the Department of Social Services, during the 2016-17 financial year, 83,600 fathers received Dad and Partner Pay (DAPP), a scheme where eligible fathers can claim two weeks of pay at the minimum wage when their child is born.

ACT fathers accounted for 1441 of the parents receiving DAPP.

The scheme was seen to be under utilised by new parents, with only one in three eligible people taking it up.

In the same time period, 170,925 parents in Australia received pay under the paid parental leave scheme, of which just 693 were men.

While fathers are eligible to receive both DAPP and paid parental leave, they cannot receive more than 18 weeks of payments for both.

Mr Kirby said more flexibility should be given to new parents in order to look after and bond with their child.

"Young children are very dependant on carers, and in those first few years, it's absolutely crucial for emotional and physical wellbeing," he said.

"The bonding for both parents is hugely important."