hi all,
my oral is next week on the issue of 'the introduction of 14 weeks paid maternity leave for all working women'. Here i go:
Good afternoon,
It is shocking to see that Australia has been yet to adapt a national government funded scheme of paid maternity leave and I, ... ...., strongly believe that all working women should be entitled to a minimum of 14 weeks paid maternity leave. I am aware that people have different views on this issue. But what is there really to consider, once you realise most mothers return to work almost immediately to help cope with the financial burden placed upon them? As stated by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick “women... (have) gone back to work a week after they’ve had the baby because it was the only way they could afford to have a child”. Women need time to bond with their child and develop a healthy relationship with them, not return straight to work. The concept of paid maternity leave should have been brought into the Australian workforce long ago. Every woman has a right to paid leave after giving birth to help raise their child and start a healthy future. Most women are holding back to have children as they do not want to deal with being a mother without being financially supported. Australia needs to take a humane step forward and follow the lines of many other countries to introduce paid maternity leave for all working women.
Women need and should be entitled to paid maternity leave. Without women, how is the population going to increase? Women should be encouraged to have babies and the Australian government should be supporting them. If the national government funded scheme of 14 weeks paid maternity leave was to be successful, more working women would be persuaded to have children. They would not have to worry about the financial circumstances related with having children. Instead they can relax and enjoy the wonderful things that motherhood brings; the first crawl, step, first spoken word. If mothers were to be entitled to paid maternity leave, it would release the financial burden placed upon the father. The father would not have to worry about being the main source of income of the family and like the mother, enjoy fatherhood. We all should push for the paid maternity leave scheme of 14 weeks to be successful. Our children should be permitted to a healthy and strong future to look forward to.
76% of Australians all support paid maternity leave for working women. With this in mind, why hasn’t the Australian Government listened to its people and brought out a national government funded scheme of paid maternity leave. If Australia were to introduce paid maternity leave for all working women the costs will be significantly lower than the $1.2 billion spent on the baby bonus. It would be half of this amount and indeed much more affordable than the baby bonus. By no means am I saying that the baby bonus should be abolished, women should be entitled to the baby bonus in addition to paid maternity leave for all working women. Not all women work, so the baby bonus is needed for those. More than 1 in 5 Australian women left the workforce after giving birth due to insufficient or non-existent maternity leave measures.
Elizabeth Broderick believes that paid maternity leave should be introduced alongside the baby bonus. Some companies have already introducing paid maternity leave such as Myer, Aldi and Westpac. The return to work rates of these companies by working women after giving birth has nudged 90%. Finance company GE, provide 3 months paid maternity leave for all working women no matter how long they have been working with the company. On the other hand, InsuranceLine provide only 2 weeks of half paid maternity leave for each completed year you have worked there and can receive up to 12 months leave.
According to the Australian Council of Trade Unions only 8 per cent of women in the retail and hospitality sectors have paid maternity leave compared to 56 per cent of professional women. As stated by Elizabeth Broderick, the president of ACTU Sharon Burrow and chief executive of the Australian Industry Group Heather Ridout, “it is low-paid women in industries such as retail and hospitality who are most likely to miss out (on paid maternity leave), yet they are the most likely to be in need of it.
Sure some might argue that women may use the money provided by paid maternity leave on other matters than their child, but can we really not provide it for this reason? There are many ways to prevent women as well as fathers using the money on items that are not in need for the child. The government could provide vouchers for food services and health care items rather than just money. This would ensure that the money being used is spent well and cannot be misused.
The baby bonus which is to be increased to $5000 from July 1st is a help in hand for all parents. It helps to release financial weight placed upon parents. It may be used for other resources other than the baby such as flat screen TV’s and new couches but should we really remove it? The baby bonus is an addition to help working mothers raise their child. To be honest I believe that all women should be entitled to the baby bonus. However, women who work and receive paid maternity leave should not receive the full sum of $5000. Instead they should only receive part of it, allowing the government more money to help introduce a national government funded scheme of paid maternity leave of 14 weeks.
Australia provides almost nothing compared to other countries. In Britain women are now entitled to 39 weeks paid maternity leave, a recent increase from 26 weeks. Countries across the world are every day planning to increase maternity pay and it is only Australia and the United States who do not provide some form of statutory paid maternity leave.
Is it really right to not pay working women after giving birth? What is being achieved from this? No and nothing should be the answers. Paid maternity leave helps women and fathers provide a healthy and sustainable life for their children. Our country is far behind what others are providing for their working woman. Help introduce paid maternity leave in our country so that we can take a humane step forward and help the women of today’s working society.
Thankyou
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