Paid Parental Leave

(George & Peppa - happy beneficiaries of paid parental leave - April 2013)

The last election issue I want to cover is the paid parental leave scheme. I am all for it and it appears so are the major parties.

I found this article very helpful. I also mention it in this previous blog post (wow... I have enough posts to refer to old ones already).

It appears Liberals will give me more (though I don't plan to have any more children). Funded, as in previous blog, but cutting resources to the environment and foreign aid.

Labour will maintain the current arrangement and also investigate an overhaul in the childcare system (which as a regular user of this system, I think its really important).

The Greens promise to do a combination of both, though the funding is not clear.

As I have previously said, I think paid parental leave is a really important "welfare" benefit, especially for mums as they manage the change (financially, socially and emotionally) of becoming a mother. And for partners to get some of this money, helps with the whole family. I think this is especially for low income families where money is tight.

The additional aspect of review the current childcare system and possibly increasing the wages of childcare workers is very appealing. As someone who has had to experience the stress of limited childcare places, and witnessing first hand the large spectrum of "care" that is available, the system cannot be sustainable in its current form.

This policy is very close to being one that feeds straight into my back pocket, but I would hope it would also benefit many other parents in the future.