APS Commission recommends expanded maternity, parental leave entitlements

The review into the Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1973 found paid maternity leave of 12 weeks should be extended to both parents, and increased to 18 weeks.

The pregnant partner is also eligible for six weeks of pregnancy leave, bringing their total paid leave to 24 weeks.

UNSW Canberra associate professor of Human Resource Management Sue Williamson said the review recognised "that the Act was just so outdated".

"This is the biggest change that the APS has seen to maternity leave since 1973, so this is a really big deal, and the report has made some excellent recommendations."

In its review of parental leave, the commission noted that while the Act had been ground-breaking for its time, "community standards and expectations have evolved", and a new Act should be drawn up.

The review could have been more ambitious, Dr Williamson said, pointing out that most public service agencies have 14 to 18 weeks of maternity leave included in their enterprise agreements.

Further recommendations included that parents should have access to a total of 24 months of leave, up from 12, with superannuation to be paid through the duration of that. A period of 12 months' service previously required to access paid parental and pregnancy leave should also be scrapped.

Parents who adopt children under the age of 16 should also be eligible for paid parental leave, while paid parental leave for foster parents can be considered in enterprise agreements.

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Those who experience stillbirth should also retain their parental leave entitlements, and parents who experience pregnancy loss from between 12 and 19 weeks' gestation should receive one-week paid leave.

A recommendation that paid parental leave count towards employees qualifying for their next salary increments would help to close the gender pay gap, Dr Williamson said.

"Women have gone on ... parental leave and then not been there when they would have got the increment, and so they have been behind.

"But seeing that period of leave, counting that as service, means that women will get their increment and that will assist in reducing the gender pay gap, which is a good thing."

The final report made a total of 26 recommendations, which will now be considered by the Albanese government.

The review highlighted the need for reform, a spokesperson for Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher said.

"We welcome the APSC review of the Maternity Leave Act," the spokesperson said.

"The review highlights the need for reform and the Government will consider the recommendations before finalising our position on any further legislation. Parts of the review will also come up through the current APS bargaining process."

The Community and Public Sector Union welcomed the "comprehensive and well-thought out" review of parenting entitlements.

"These review recommendations would mean Commonwealth parental leave provisions are better aligned with the realities of modern Australian families," the union's national secretary Melissa Donnelly said in a statement.

"By adopting these recommendations, the Albanese Government would deliver Commonwealth employees better flexibility to balance their work and family lives in a way that works for their own circumstances."

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