Petition Reply from Social Services Minister Anne Ruston
As a part of my recent petition to the Federal Government to increase paid parental leave from 18 weeks to 26 weeks, I also sent emails to the Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt, Anthony Albanese Leader of the Labor Party and Zali Steggall who is my Independant Local Federal Member.
I have received no reply at all from Mr Albanese’s team. Zali’s team have gotten back to me and we are in talks regarding the petition and her presenting it to the House of Representatives when parliament resumes post election assuming she retains her seat.
The Health Minister Greg Hunt is retiring and passed it over to the Social Services Minister Anne Ruston who had one of her staff reply. You may remember her as the minister who said that adding superannuation to Parental Leave wasn’t worth it on a cost benefit basis. Oh and also, they actually state in their letter that the whole government is in limp mode now due to the election and all. Super glad to hear the country can run on autopilot. So here is the letter in full.
So - Back to my petition. My logic behind the increase in paid parental leave from 18 weeks to 26 weeks is based around breastfeeding. Yes there are tons of other reasons why it should be increased. But bare with me, I work with breastfeeding Mums. The fact remains, regardless of how you feed your baby, extending this leave policy is just good for everyone.
So there are a ton of reports, WHO, Unicef, and just about every medical journal world wide that recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of a babies life. Australian government reports included - Check out the original post here for all of those links.
One of her closing statements is that the benefits of funding a scheme for more than 18 weeks would not be worth the additional costs of forgone spending on other areas such as health and child care. Breastfeeding is Preventive Medicine. It is proven to reduce the risk of Ovarian Cancer, Breast Cancer, Osteoporosis, Type 2 Diabetes, Hypertension, Stroke, Hyperlipidemia and Cardiovascular disease in Mothers. In Infants, it provides protection for the intestinal lining, protects against common colds, fever and serious illness. It protects against respiratory infections, ear infections, diarrhoea, UTI’s, sepsis, rotavirus and meningitis. It lowers the risk of breast cancer, chronic and autoimmune diseases, hypertension, high cholesterol, heart disease and asthma. And that is only the beginning!
So if breastfeeding provides all of that amazing goodness, how is it not worth the investment.
Anne Ruston states in this letter that the paid parental scheme is intended to complement employer provided parental leave entitlements and to provide a minimum for people without access to the entitlements and that together with employer benefits or the parent self funding this, almost all infants will be exclusively cared for, for six months.
So let’s unpack that. Most people don’t work for big private sector institutions that will pay their people more than the minimum floor the government will provide. We aren’t all lawyers or investment bankers. And most small businesses can’t afford to pick up additional difference. 44% of people work for small businesses or are self employed. We would hazard a guess that there is a disproportionate amount of females in this group. So, we DO need the government to provide the minimum standard of financial benefit and time for parents and infants.
The Government provides the floor of offerings of what we deem important as a nation. Surely, healthcare and time with newborns would be important enough to deem that the base amount of this should be worthy of increasing. This is such a privileged response and an insult to people who are getting by on the $772.55 per week before tax (and without super!).
The letter goes on to state, that a 2009 inquiry report by the Productivity commission (sorry I vom’d a little typing that) that resuming work is not the main reason given by Australian Women for discontinuing breastfeeding and that paid parental leave itself is only likely to be partly effective in increasing breastfeeding. Last I checked, incremental increases are amazing. Babies get incrementally better at crawling, walking and talking. Mothers get incrementally better at breastfeeding with every feed. So many of you wrote to me after the petition went live with your concerns around leaving your 18 week old, how you were going to breastfeed your baby while managing your job, babies not taking bottles, being demand fed and the general stress and helplessness you felt at this time.
Ok, I will give her that returning work isn’t the main reason women discontinue breastfeeding. The main reason is actually a lack of access to support. And guess what - That is the other bug bear I have. The 2007 Best Start Report into Breastfeeding, Recommendation 18 - That the Minister for Health and Ageing provide Medicare provider/registration numbers to International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLC) as allied health professionals. - Guess what, that hasn’t happened either! So you can go to the Dr and get pretty much most body parts checked out and grab a medicare rebate, but breastfeeding. Nope. Nada. 2007! 15 Years Ago! Gobsmacked. But I Digress.
So Minister, I beg you to see reason. It is time to value motherhood, parenthood and newborns in this crucial time in a child life. Invest in parenthood. Invest in health. Invest in time for parents to be with their child. Stand up and be a world leader.
The petition is live until 27th April at 10:59pm. Please sign, share and let’s make more noise about this issue. Given the upcoming election, your vote is more important than ever! So ask your candidates where they stand on increasing paid parental leave. Show them the petition, this blog, the last bog and get them to see that investing in parenthood is worth it!
Thanks,
Peta x
