An Open Letter To the Policy Makers - Paid Parental Leave
26 October 2022
Dear Change Makers!
Thank you to the Labour government for the recent announcements to increase paid parental leave from 18 weeks to 26 weeks. This is a huge step in supporting women and families and future generations of Australia’s children by getting them off to the best start in life.
In April of this year, I started a Federal Government petition for the increase of paid parental leave from 18 weeks to 26 weeks in line with the WHO recommendations for breastfeeding and Australia’s own Breastfeeding reports and goals. The petition closed on 27/4/22 with 8,461 signatures and I received many anecdotal stories of desperation from mothers who are faced with leaving their baby and returning to work at 4 months of age as their financial situation does not permit further time at home. https://www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/petition/EN4056
We were very grateful that this petition was presented in Federal Parliament by our local MP Zali Steggall on the 7th September.
Whilst 26 weeks is a huge step in the right direction, we do, however, have many concerns around the “use it or lose it” policy discussion that is around at this time. Whilst we totally understand the government’s desire to achieve economic equality for women, discussions we have had with families overwhelmingly show a desire to be paid for the time taken out of the workforce, not simply to get them back to work and have the father or partner replace them at home. When we look at parental leave from health and developmental outcomes for women and children, 26 weeks has been proven to be what is the minimal optimum outcome.
The 2009 Productivity Commission Report was the basis for the original decision of 18 weeks duration. However, the entire report shows evidence on many levels that 6 months is the optimal length of time for parental leave, not just for breastfeeding outcomes, but overall child development, child attachment and maternal and parenting outcomes. Below are some of the key highlights from the report.
Highlights from the report include:
The evidence is most compelling that there are child health and wellbeing benefits from exclusive parental care in the first six months of life.
Between 11 and 17 per cent of mothers return to work before their child is 3 months old.
Between 26 and 31 per cent of mothers return to work before their child is 6 months old.
The biomedical literature suggests there are benefits from breastfeeding for infants and children (particularly if exclusively breastfed for six months) as well as for mothers. The evidence also suggests a positive association between paid parental leave and the duration of breastfeeding. Paid parental leave, together with support for breastfeeding, has the potential to improve breastfeeding rates.
In Australia, most women exclusively breastfeed for much shorter periods than six months (and significantly less than women in many other developed countries). While the majority of Australian women commence breastfeeding (92 per cent of babies are breastfed at birth), just 14 per cent are exclusively breastfed at six months
The evidence is most compelling that six months exclusive parental care fosters improved developmental outcomes.
Impact on Initiation
Some studies suggest that returning to employment has little or no impact on breastfeeding initiation (Lindberg 1996, Dennis 2002). Others, however, indicate that women who return to work after only a brief period of leave are less likely to initiate breastfeeding.
Results from this large representative cohort of Australian infants confirm that maternal employment in the first 6 months of life contributes to premature cessation of breastfeeding even when known risk factors of breastfeeding cessation are controlled for.
Worldwide Recommendations
The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council states that: ‘For Australia, it is recommended that as many infants as possible be exclusively breastfed until 6 months of age. Although the greatest benefits from breastfeeding are to be gained in the early months, especially from exclusive breastfeeding for at least six months, there is no doubt that breastfeeding provides benefits that continue beyond this time.
While the breastfeeding initiation rate meets the National Health and Medical Research Council’s (NHMRC) target, the rate of breastfeeding at six months is well below 80 per cent, a goal considered by the Council to be achievable in Australia.
The WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for six months.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has recommended six months as the optimal duration of exclusive breastfeeding since 1997.
Developmental Outcomes
By allowing mothers (and, or fathers) to stay home and care for their infants, parental leave may be expected to result in improved health and development outcomes for infants. And, there is some evidence to suggest that longer periods of paid parental leave are associated with reduced rates of infant mortality.
Most of the more recent evidence tends to support the view that the use of non-parental care/child care (usually necessitated by maternal employment) when initiated within the first year of a child’s life can contribute to behavioural problems and, in some contexts, delayed cognitive development.
Evidence of problems is generally stronger when child care is initiated very early (3 to 4 months or less), when maternal employment is full-time and when the child care arrangement is for long hours and of low quality.
On balance, the evidence points to a greater potential for negative effects on child development if a mother’s return to employment is made before three to six months and the child is in non-parental care for extended periods of time. There appears to be a greater potential for positive effects if a return to employment is made between 12 to 18 months.
For Fathers
The evidence suggests that early father involvement in a child’s life is of particular importance for the child’s later emotional, cognitive and social well-being. Father involvement can also act to protect child wellbeing when mothers return to work early in a child’s life.
There is some evidence to suggest that fathers’ involvement with their children at an early age leads to increases in the father’s continuing involvement throughout childhood.
A number of other countries, by legislating periods of paid parental leave exclusively for the use of fathers (generally between two to four weeks), have tried to get fathers to spend more time with their children. And, these policies have had some success, but, as observed by the OECD they have not resulted in fundamental behavioural change.
These are obviously only some of the highlights and it is interesting that the choice was made for 18 weeks, not only without evidence to support that number, but unwavering evidence that supports the full 26 weeks leading to optimal health outcomes.
Families should always be able to make the best decision for their unique and individual situations. For some, that may be the mother using all of the leave, for some the partner or father using it all and for some it might be a 50/50 usage. Whatever the case may be, that should always be left to a family to decide. The government’s role is to provide a supportive floor from which a family can make decisions around the best care of their child in first 6 months of life.
This should be free from government overreach and dictating the terms or stipulations of the payment including any “bonuses” for allocation of usage.
I would love to discuss the updates to the parental leave policy further and ask that in the review of this policy in Australia, that the increase to 26 weeks be as per the evidence in the report and the distribution be up to individual family choice.
I look forward to hearing from you and working together to make a positive change to this policy for the families of Australia and giving the future generation the best possible start.
Kind regards
Peta Arthurson