The Bill finalises the government’s expansion of paid parental leave that was first announced in the October 2022-23 Budget, increasing the scheme to 26 weeks, or 6 months by July 2026.

From July 1 2024, parents will be eligible for an additional two weeks of leave to the current 18 weeks on offer, followed by another two in 2025 and then the final weeks in 2026. 

Four weeks are reserved for each parent on a ‘use it or lose it’ basis, with these changes designed to encourage parents to share the care.

The Bill also introduces concurrent leave, which means that from 2026, both parents can take four weeks of leave at the same time if they choose to, providing families with the flexibility to arrange their care how they need. 

Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth says the extra six weeks of is part of a total investment of $1.2 billion over five years from the Labor government towards paid parental leave. 

“Paid Parental Leave is a proud Labor legacy and our Albanese Labor Government is building and expanding on that legacy,” says Rishworth. 

“This will benefit over 180,000 families each year and represents the biggest expansion of the scheme since Labor introduced it in 2011.”

“The Bill gives Australian families more Paid Parental Leave than ever before and will support participation and productivity over the longer term, providing a dividend for the Australian economy,” she says.

There’s mounting evidence of a “motherhood penalty”, which refers to how becoming a mum in Australia comes with a high price for women. It occurs primarily because women take time out of the workforce or work fewer hours after having a child, which sees their lifetime earnings reduce significantly.

Creating an environment for fathers to take more parental leave has been shown to combat this, as shared parental leave policies can foster an equal division of unpaid care and paid work. 

Support for the Bill

Offering their suport for the increase to paid parental leave, the Australian Chamber of Commerce said “businesses are set to benefit by ensuring that fewer productive employees end up leaving workplaces permanently and more women remain in the labour market.”

Equality Rights Alliance, Australia’s largest network of organisations advocating for gender equality, has called the changes “equality enabling” and that it offers “significant advances in the promotion of Australian women’s economic security.”

Dr Leonora Risse, an economist specialising in gender equality, noted that this is a “historic milestone” for women’s rights and economic standing, and gender equality in Australia.

“The amendments in this Bill are an indisputable and significant improvement from previous policy settings and are strongly welcomed,” said Dr Risse. 

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The Carer Inclusive Workplace Initiative is a new, carer-friendly workplace framework for employers that includes a self-assessment tool and e-learning modules to help businesses become more inclusive of people who are balancing caring responsibilities in their lives alongside their paid jobs.

Often, carers in Australia face significant obstacles to entering the workforce or maintaining their career due to the demands of their caring role. 

The initiative has emerged as a result of the government’s Jobs and Skills Summit held last year and is focused on promoting equal opportunities for careers, and reducing barriers to employment. 

Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth has spearheaded the initiative, and announced it on Thursday at Parliament House.

 “Australia’s ageing population, cost of living pressures, and evolving lifestyles are reshaping the landscape of caregiving,” Rishworth said.

“Just as workplaces have adapted to accommodate parents caring for children, it is crucial that we acknowledge the unique challenges faced by carers and provide them with the support needed to thrive in their careers.”

Carers’ ability to participate in paid work is getting worse

According to the 2022 Carer Wellbeing Survey, almost two-thirds of carers (63.9 per cent) have reported low satisfaction with their ability to participate in paid work, while half of carers said their ability to participate in paid work was getting worse.

There was also a correlation between supportive employers, and a carer’s level of healthy wellbeing. Employers who embrace a carer-inclusive work environment and show they are invested in the wellbeing of their employees can increase employee motivation, moral, job satisfaction and engagement.

It also showed that more than 70 per cent of those who felt their employer was not understanding of their situation had low wellbeing.

Carers Australia has welcomed the government’s initiative and encourages all employers to sign up.

“Unpaid carers frequently face barriers in the workplace. This initiative aims to directly address this, by giving organisations a framework to build a carer inclusive workplace,” said Jane Bacot-Kilpatrick, CEO of Carers Australia.

“We encourage all employers, no matter how many people they employ, to sign-up and support the individuals who selflessly provide unpaid care within our communities.”

Bacot-Kilpatrick said organisations that undertake the initiative commitment will not only contribute to a more compassionate society but also gain a competitive edge by attracting a broader pool of talented employees.

Organisations that participate in the Carer Incusive Workplace Iniatitive will also get access to a virtual hub with a range of resources, templates and reference guides. It’s designed to support employers to make meaningful changes to accomodate the unique needs of carers in their workforce.

Oorganisations that excel in the self assessment process will also be awarded a brandmark to showcase their commitment to supporting carers on communication and recruitment platforms.

Feature Image: Minister for Social Services, Amanda Rishworth.

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The Voice is about three simple – but extremely important – things: recognition, listening and achieving better outcomes together.

Right now our Constitution is silent when it comes to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and 65,000 years of culture and tradition. It’s time to fix that.

Constitutional recognition through a Voice is how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have asked to be recognised.

The Voice is about advice. When we listen to the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on the issues that impact them, we achieve better outcomes.

The Closing the Gap Framework highlights the areas where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience worse outcomes and, sadly, we are not achieving the progress we need.

Target 13 in particular deals with the significant rates of family violence and abuse too often experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children.

It calls for the rate of all forms of family violence and abuse against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children to be reduced by at least 50 per cent, by 2031.

Today, Indigenous women are 34 times more likely to be hospitalised because of violence than non-Indigenous women.

They report three times as many incidents of sexual violence as non-Indigenous women, and they are more likely to be killed due to assault.

I’m sure everyone would agree – this must end.

Because these are not just statistics, they are mothers, aunties, sisters and children – and the impacts ripple across generations.

Just a few weeks ago, I was listening to Joshua, whose eyes filled with tears as he spoke of the years of abuse his mother faced at the hands of men who professed to love her.

He spoke of the trauma he witnessed that continues to impact him into his adult life. The intergenerational impact of the abuse he witnessed.

Joshua’s mum, Aunty Sandra Creamer AM, turned her lived experience into action through leading the work on the first dedicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan.

It is the first plan to address violence against women and children in First Nations communities and was developed in true partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders.

Listening to our Advisory Council, including Aunty Sandra Creamer, and other prominent First Nations leaders – along with people on the ground with lived experience – helped to guide us in the development of our Action Plans, launched just last month.

Through listening and reaching out to many people in communities we were able to achieve better results and better ways of working.

These include new ways of addressing violence – such as focusing on men’s healing. Healing and recovery is an important part of addressing violence, and for First Nations people, it is a holistic process that aims to address mental, physical, spiritual and emotional needs through reconnecting with culture, restoring safe and enduring relationships and supporting communities to create and lead change.

This is just one example of how listening to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can provide a new perspective to achieve better outcomes.

Some people might say if we are already listening to Indigenous leaders like Aunty Sandra Creamer on issues that impact First Nations people, then why do we need a Voice?

Firstly, and importantly, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have asked for a Voice.

Through the Uluru Statement from the Heart – a one page document – more than 250 delegates from across the country came together to call for a constitutionally entrenched First Nations Voice to Parliament.

And secondly a Voice provides a permanent vehicle for advice to government from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on issues that disproportionately impact them.

Enshrining the Voice in the Constitution ensures that the Voice is above politics. A Voice enshrined in the Constitution will give advice in the long-term, rather than for electoral cycles.

If we want to close the gap we need a new perspective from communities and a consistency of advice that doesn’t chop and change with every election cycle.

A Voice or advisory body also cannot be truly independent or give frank and fearless advice if the government of the day can abolish it with the stroke of a pen. This is true in all areas where we see poorer outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people – and particularly in the area of family safety.

If we want to achieve the goal of ending violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children within a generation – as the Commonwealth came together to commit to with states and territories in the National Plan – a Voice with a permanent vehicle for advice to government is needed.

There is nothing to fear – and everything to gain – from constitutional recognition through an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament.

It’s time to listen by voting YES.

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Today, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth launched a five-year plan aiming to reduce the number of women killed by intimate partner violence by 25 per cent each year. 

A staggering 57 women were killed by violence in Australia in 2022, according to Destroy the Joint. And this year already, the number has reached 34 as of August 2023.

“No woman or child should have their lives terrorised by someone who professed to love and care for them,” said Rishworth in a statement.

“No woman or child should have their lives ended prematurely due to that violence.”

Rishworth told the ABC that to track progress on its targets, the government will rely on the Australian Institute of Criminology for its data for its baseline– which, according to current data shows twenty-five women have died at the hands of current or former partners in the year to July 2021. 

Director of the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre, Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbons says the Action Plans announced today represent “a much-needed next step” in meeting the objectives of the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-23 but adds that more must be done to ensure real progress.

“The commitments made are welcome but the urgency to act is yet to be demonstrated, says Professor Fitz-Gibbons. “All governments across Australia must now move to fully fund and action these commitments as a matter of priority.”

“This government has made an unprecedented funding commitment of $2.3 billion over the 2022-23 and 2023-24 budgets to address women’s safety and support delivery of these Action Plans. While this sounds impressive, it is not commensurate with the scale of the crisis of domestic, family and sexual violence in Australia.”

Professor Fitz-Gibbons says increased funding is “urgently needed at the Commonwealth, state and territory levels.”

An analysis by the Australian Bureau of Statistics last year found that one in four women have experienced partner emotional abuse since the age of 15, and over half of these women report experiencing physical and/or sexual violence by this partner as well.

Women who experience intimate partner violence are also twice as likely to suffer mental health disorders and only around 22 per cent feel fully recovered after a decade, according to a study from Hunter Medical Research Institute and the University of Newcastle.

Dedicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander action plan

The problem is even more profound for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, with the murder rate for Indigenous women eight times higher than for non-Indigenous women. And figures compiled by the Australian Institute of Criminology show a significant proportion of these are attributable to intimate partner violence. 

Announced today as well, the government will establish a national peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family safety to address the disproportionate rates of violence against Indigenous women.

The body will be under what’s described as the first dedicated action plan for Indigenous Australians. The government said the three-year plan is aligned with Closing the Gap targets– halving the rate of all forms of family violence and abuse against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children by 2031. 

“This plan is a first for our country and has been developed by listening and working with First Nations people because we know that listening is the key to developing better policies and programs and delivering better outcomes,” said Linda Burney, the minister for Indigenous Australians.

The plan includes providing services in prisons for Indigenous people who are both victims and perpetrators of family and sexual violence. An Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men’s advisory body will be established as well.

More targets included in the government’s plan include increasing understanding of violence against women across the community and changing attitudes, improving police responses, improving access to housing for women and children facing violence and increasing corporate Australia’s role in preventing customers from experiencing violence. 

If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or click here.

If you are in immediate danger call 000. If you need mental health support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.

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The entitlement to paid family and domestic violence leave for small business employees comes six months after employees who work for medium and large businesses were granted the right. 

The Albanese government had given small businesses an additional six months to prepare for the new leave entitlement, in recognition of the limited resources of most small businesses. 

“Violence against women and children is not acceptable, and for some, it has been inescapable,” Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said.

“No one should have to choose between their work or their safety, and this is why we want to take strong action to protect anyone experiencing violence from disadvantage or discrimination in the workplace.”

Rishworth said the government understood that “small businesses do not have the same resources as larger organisations” and they would provide a small business assistance package with practical support to help businesses understand their obligations and administer the leave entitlement sensitively and lawfully.

“This is a workplace entitlement that will make a real difference to the working Australians who experience family and domestic violence each year,” Rishworth said.

The government has also just released a new podcast in partnership with Lifeline Australia titled Small business, big impact: how to support employees experiencing family and domestic violence. The podcast is hosted by Gretel Killeen.

Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence Justine Elliot said the podcast would help prepare small business owners for conversations about paid family and domestic violence leave, and how they can support employees.

“The podcast, designed for small businesses, has been guided by experts from the family and domestic violence sector, alongside representatives from small business and their peak bodies,” Elliot said.

Economic security is a key factor in determining whether a person can escape a dangerous relationship. On average, it costs $18,000 to escape a violent relationship in Australia.

If you or someone you know is impacted by family and domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au.

In an emergency, call 000. 

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More than 11 million employees are now eligible for ten days leave to deal with the impacts of family and domestic violence and whether they ever need it or not, the protection is there.

It’s an important moment in this country, so I was disappointed to hear a minority of employers complaining about the provision.

I was particularly disappointed to hear one employer complaining that he shouldn’t have to pay for other people’s ‘bad relationship choices’.

That attitude is victim blaming and it’s exactly the sort of attitude that we need to change if we are to end violence against women.   

In Australia, one woman dies every 10 days at the hands of her former or current partner.

Every two minutes police around the nation deal with a domestic violence matter, that’s 5000 incidents a week.

Providing paid leave to those affected by family and domestic violence is one way that we can start to save lives. An example of when this leave would be critical is women who need time to sort out an alternative safe place to stay. Before this law came a reality, they had to make a choice between safety and wages. Another choice that shouldn’t be made is turning up to work rather than seeking counselling after a domestic violence incident.

Now all Australian workers, full-time, part time and casual get the same entitlements. We haven’t left casual workers behind.  

Women have spent years trying to explain to policy-makers the urgency for this leave. This Government listened to women and has shown its resolve to removing the barriers to women escaping violence.

Employers that are complaining about a change to leave entitlements ignore the fact family and domestic violence doesn’t just impact the victim survivor and their families, but it ripples through communities and we all have a responsibility to turnaround the shocking statistics.

Family and domestic violence doesn’t just affect the people involved. It affects the people who feel powerless to help, the people who do care for victims and people who can see the bruises and overhear the phone calls. The people who cover for women taking odd days off from work and the drop in productivity. 

It’s going to take everyone pulling in the same direction if we are going to shift the dial. While governments need to do their bit our businesses, sports clubs, faith based organisations, every part of our community needs to work hand-in-hand with us.

The Government’s National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-2032 sets out how we can all step up to make change.

It is the blueprint for how we will work to address family, domestic and sexual violence over the next ten years by addressing the underlying drivers to prevent violence before it occurs.

It sets out why we need to intervene early and prevent further escalation; to respond appropriately when violence is used; and to support the recovery and healing of victim-survivors in ways which put them at the centre.

I recognise that shifting community attitudes and reducing a prevalence of violence will take more than a ten-year plan. It will take a generation to see a sizable shift and we all need to play a role to save lives and protect vulnerable women.

Family and domestic violence leave is a policy that I wish we didn’t need to have, but I know we need. It’s one step in the right direction, but we all need to step-up and be ambitious to make sure we break the cycle.

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Rowland and Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth will hold the roundtable in Sydney on Wednesday, hearing from representatives from Bumble, Tinder and Grindr, women’s safety experts, as well as state and territory government ministers.

Rowland said she is concerned about a report from the Australian Institute of Criminology that found 3 in 4 survey respondents had been subjected to sexual violence facilitated by dating apps in the past five years.

In the report, sexual harassment was the most common behaviour reported. Abusive and threatening language and unsolicited sexual images were also major issues.

“The roundtable will hear directly from the online dating industry about their efforts to prevent violence and abuse arising from the use of their services,” Rowland said on Wednesday.
 
“We’ll hear from experts working in the field about the extent of this problem and what governments, digital platforms, and civil society can do to address these issues and improve safety for Australians.”

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said sexual violence on dating apps is a gender equality issue.

“Dating app violence is gender-based violence. And like all forms of violence, we need to challenge and change the attitudes that lead to this violence occurring in the first place,” Rishworth said.

“We must create communities – both in the physical and virtual world – where everyone is treated equally and with respect. This begins with promoting gender equality.

“The Government’s National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022–2032 recognises the need to address technology-facilitated abuse, as a matter of urgency if we are to achieve our ambition to, end gender-based violence in one generation.

“Everyone deserves to live a life free of violence no matter where they are – and this includes online.”

This week, Tinder has launched a new, dating safety guide in partnership with WESNET, a peak body for domestic violence services, as well as an in-app safety campaign running over the next month.

Tinder said a recent survey found a third of its users were not fully aware of the app’s online dating safety features.

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The new National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-2032, released on Monday, sets out a vision to address social, cultural, political, and economic factors that drive gender-based violence in Australia.

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said the plan is a “blueprint” for the next decade to end violence against women and children.

“Current rates of family, domestic and sexual violence are unacceptable,” Rishworth said.

“We want to make these changes now so the next generation of women and children can live in a society free from violence.”

The national plan brings together federal, state and territory governments and offers a shared commitment across the areas of prevention, early intervention, response, and recovery and healing.

The report does not include specific funding commitments, but it does commit to the release of two five-year “action” plans. The first of these will be released in 2023. A standalone Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan is yet to be released.

The national plan comes after the previous decade’s national plan failed in its goal to reduce violence against women and children. Indeed, reported rates of sexual violence continued to rise, and currently, one woman is killed every 10 days by a current or former partner.

The new national plan includes an “outcomes framework” with provisions to track, monitor and report on the plan’s progress, and help governments respond to new or emerging needs.

It gives many suggestions as to how Australia can stem gendered violence. Among its key principles are “advancing gender equality”, “closing the gap”, “centering victim-survivors”, “accountability”, “intersectionality”, and “person-centred coordination and integration”.

Director of the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre, Dr Kate Fitz-Gibbon, said the plan is “world-leading”.

“It sets the ambition to create whole of system responses that not only support victim-survivors to survive but to thrive beyond their experience of violence,” Dr Fitz-Gibbon said.

“This National Plan represents a much-needed decade-long commitment to eliminate the national crisis of domestic, family and sexual violence. The voices of victim-survivors have been embedded into the Plan’s development. It is essential that the commitment to valuing the expertise of lived experience continues over the life of the Plan.”

The plan puts an emphasis on engaging boys and men, and building community awareness about the role “harmful expressions of masculinity” can play in driving men’s violence against women, children and LGBTIQ+ people.

It also emphasises that housing is critical to ending violence against women and children within a generation.

“Domestic and family violence is the main reason women and children leave their homes in Australia and is the leading cause of homelessness for children,” the report states.

“While improving pathways to long-term affordable and appropriate housing is central to supporting the long-term recovery of victim-survivors, it is critical to implement and expand programs that support women and children to remain safely in their own homes if that is their wish.”

Minister for Women, Senator Katy Gallagher said the plan looks at how to address the structural barriers and inequalities that are a major driver behind gender-based violence.

“No amount of violence is acceptable and it is crucial that we talk honestly about some of the factors that contribute to violence against women and children, and what we will do to address some of the underlying causes,” Gallagher said.

Hayley Foster, CEO of Full Stop Australia, said it is an ambitious plan and a comprehensive statement of the state of gender-based violence in Australia. Foster warned that funding commitments and specific, measurable targets would be needed in the upcoming 5-year plans.

“The aim of the Plan to end gender-based violence in one generation is an ambitious one, but we should not tolerate any less,” Ms Foster said.

“Just one person being subjected to violence and abuse is too many. Nevertheless, if we want to ensure we have a chance of achieving this, we need to put numbers to specific, measurable targets in our 5-year Action Plans, and we need to commit to the funding needed to address this crisis, once and for all.”

“A life free from violence is possible.”

If you or someone you know is impacted by family and domestic violence or sexual assault, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au.

The Men’s Referral Service can be contacted on 1300 766 491.

In an emergency, call 000.

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