Changes to Australia's paid parental leave pass Parliament

Proposed changes to Australia's paid parental leave (PPL) policy officially passed  Parliament on Monday.

The House of Representatives passed in February the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Improvements for Families and Gender Equality) Bill 2022, followed by the Senate on March 6.

"The changes taking effect from July 2023 will deliver a single Paid Parental Leave scheme, with a flexible 20-week entitlement for working parents," said Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth in a statement.

Under the incoming changes, parents will be able to access the entitlement in multiple blocks with periods of work in between to grant them further flexibility on how they take the leave.

The legislation also scraps the requirement that the primary PPL claimants must be the birth parent, making it easier for families to decide who will claim the entitlements first.

The amendments also expand the PPL entitlements granted to single parents to 20 weeks, up from the current 18.

The new family income test of $350,000 per annum will also expand the eligibility of the PPL policy to nearly 3,000 additional parents, according to the Department of Social Services.

"Parents can pre-claim up to three months before the expected date of birth or adoption so there is no delay to receiving payment. Pre-claims under the improved scheme will be open from the end of March," the department said in a media release.

The department added that employers can also benefit from the increased flexibility, assuring that they won't be facing new regulatory burden when administering payment to staff.

Vital to wellbeing, gender equality

Rishworth previously said around 180,000 families taking the entitlements each year will benefit from the enhanced policy, which also seeks to promote wellbeing and women's workforce participation.

"Paid parental leave is vital for the health and wellbeing of parents and their children," the minister said. "We know that investing in paid parental leave benefits our economy. And we know that done right, paid parental leave – both government and employer schemes – can advance gender equality."

The latest amendments are part of the government's plan to expand the country's paid parental leave to 26 weeks by 2026.

The Social Services Department said additional legislation will be introduced before July next year to achieve this goal.