My name is Jane, a professional working in the Mining Industry. My husband Oran and I welcomed our first child early this year. Among the sleep deprivation, scrambling and learning about being parents, we decided to get on the Service Australia website to understand whether we can get Parental Leave Pay.

We navigated to the page and the SHOCK!

The father of the child is NOT automatically eligible for the Parental Leave Pay (18 weeks), they are only eligible for a Dad and Partner Pay (2 weeks). There is a transfer mechanism that allows the mother to transfer the leave, but the mother must meet the income criteria to make the transfer possible.

WHAT IF the MOTHER is the breadwinner of the household?

WHAT IF the FATHER choose to be the primary carer of the child?

After doing some research, it turned out that the parental leave pay disparity is enabled by the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010, in which men are being explicitly discriminated against on the basis of biological sex.

How is it, in the 21st Century, in Australia where we are proud of and cherish the diversity of our society, such gender stereotyping/discrimination is acceptable?

I advocate the Australian Government to immediately form a working group, commence a review, and recommend changes to the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010 so that parents of any child in Australia can enjoy equal rights regardless of their gender.

This is the first step to gender equity. This is the first step to a discrimination-free future.

Please spare a few minutes to support and share this petition with your family, friends, and colleagues. Because if not us, who? If not now, when?