INTRODUCTION

The National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW) is a non-politically aligned feminist organisation committed to examining the potentially differential impacts of policies and their outcomes for men and for women, and whether the consequences of policies, intended or unintended, may adversely impact on women.

OPENING STATEMENT

NFAW recommends to the Committee that the Bill be rejected out of hand. The long struggle by community and women’s groups, together with the union movement, for a national statutory Paid Parental Leave Scheme (PPL) culminated in the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010.

This followed an inquiry by the Productivity Commission for which the NFAW in particular had been a strong proponent1 .

We commend to the Senate the Overview of that Report (XLV- or 45 pages) of valuable summary of health and medical arguments on breast feeding, maternal and paternal care during the first 26 weeks of an infant life, and arguments for and against a duration of 26 or 18 weeks for the proposed statutory scheme. In particular, we draw to attention the paragraphs summarising international medical evidence on the merits of breast feeding for the first 26 weeks (see pps XIX).

After further community debate, and political discussion, one outcome was the establishment by Government of a mixed employer and taxpayer funded system. This system was very extensively canvassed in the Report, and in the subsequent inquiry by a Senate Committee into the resultant Bill. In the light of the extraordinary suggestions by the current Government that this mixed funding model was not well understood publicly, we attach our submission to the Senate Committee inquiring into the Bill to establish the scheme, wherein these matters are discussed.2

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