Key Findings Overview

The research highlights widespread agreement that the Government should introduce funding for paid parental leave, as part of the next Federal Budget.

67%, or 2 out of 3 respondents, support the broad proposal that all women should have access to government funded maternity leave. Perhaps unsurprisingly, support for maternity leave is most widespread among women and younger people. However even most men (60%) and 45-54 year olds (57%) believe funding for maternity leave should be available. 55-64 year olds are the only age group mostly opposed to the proposal, with 54% saying no.

There is even higher support for the specific choice of funding parental leave for all Australians rather than funding a tax cut for those earning more than $180,000 per year. Interestingly, widespread support is also evident across a range of household income brackets. 82% of all respondents would prefer the Government to fund parental leave in the next budget, 5 and similar levels of agreement exist among households with annual incomes of up to $40,000 (84%) and for households earning $80,000 or more (79%).

Slightly more contentious is the issue of whether favourable tax reductions should be available to mothers re-entering the workforce. While there is again broad support for this among all respondents (82%), men (24%) are twice as likely as women (12%) to oppose this proposal, as are people without children (21%) compared to those with (13%). Similarly, older people (45 years and above) are more likely to oppose such tax cuts than younger people (34 years and below).

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