Paid Maternity Leave Newspoll results

Seventy-six per cent of respondents were in favour of all working women having access to some type of paid maternity leave, while 17 per cent were against and 6 per cent were undecided. Men were as much in favour as women. Younger respondents had the strongest positive response with 89 per cent of those aged 18-34 in favour, compared with 77 per cent of those aged 35-49 and 67 per cent of those aged 50 or over.

Among those who are in favour of PML or undecided:

• 74% are in favour of it being funded by all employers
• 56% are in favour of it being funded by all workers
• 71% are in favour of it being shared by employers and workers
• 78% are in favour of it being shared by employers, workers and the Federal Government.

The opinion statements were asked of all respondents, including both those not in favour of a national maternity leave scheme as well as those in favour. They all received very strong endorsement, with a majority of respondents saying they strongly agreed with each statement.

The most important thing for a baby in its first year of life is to have the full-time care of at least one parent

• 83.3% Strongly agree
• 9.8% Agree
• 93.1% Total agree

More needs to be done in Australia so that mothers can spend more time with their newborn babies

• 67.4% Strongly agree
• 17.1% Agree
• 84.5% Total agree

Financial pressure means that many new mothers have to return to work too soon after having a baby

• 58.0% Strongly Agree
• 24.5% Agree
• 82.5% Total agree

The positive response to these statements was fairly consistent across all age groups, between men and women, married and not married, with children and without, those working and not working, across different levels of education and household income.

Six per cent, 8 per cent and 12 per cent respectively disagreed with these statements. Among those disagreeing, most disagreed somewhat, with a minority strongly disagreeing. Less than six per cent did not express a view on each question.