http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/maternity-leave/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/its-going-to-take-more-to-keep-mothers-in-the-workplace/ I find it amazing that policymakers have oversimplified the paid parental leave debate, saying it will increase the workforce participation rate. How? When Westpac and St George introduced paid parental leave, it wasn’t necessarily to get women back from maternity leave, but to get women into those companies over other companies. They knew that if they had something that NAB or CBA didn’t have, St George and Westpac become ‘employers of choice’. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/its-going-to-take-more-to-keep-mothers-in-the-workplace/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/its-going-to-take-more-to-keep-mothers-in-the-workplace/#item4832 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 On 1 January 2011 Australia will get its first ever national government-funded Paid Parental Leave scheme. This is a historic reform which will benefit not just mums, dads and babies, but also businesses. In designing our Paid Parental Leave scheme, the Australian Government engaged business as part of the process. We wanted to ensure the scheme is not only fair to business, but helps employers retain valuable and skilled staff. Having a baby is for many people part of balancing everyday work and family life.  That’s why the Government had designed our Paid Parental Leave scheme to be delivered as a workplace entitlement, just like annual leave or sick leave. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/getting-down-to-the-business-of-parental-leave/ On 1 January 2011 Australia will get its first ever national government-funded Paid Parental Leave scheme. This is a historic reform which will benefit not just mums, dads and babies, but also businesses. In designing our Paid Parental Leave scheme, the Australian Government engaged business as part of the process. We wanted to ensure the scheme is not only fair to business, but helps employers retain valuable and skilled staff. Having a baby is for many people part of balancing everyday work and family life.  That’s why the Government had designed our Paid Parental Leave scheme to be delivered as a workplace entitlement, just like annual leave or sick leave. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/getting-down-to-the-business-of-parental-leave/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/getting-down-to-the-business-of-parental-leave/#item4687 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 On 1 January 2011 Australia will get its first ever national government-funded Paid Parental Leave scheme. This is a historic reform which will benefit not just mums, dads and babies, but also businesses. In designing our Paid Parental Leave scheme, the Australian Government engaged business as part of the process. We wanted to ensure the scheme is not only fair to business, but helps employers retain valuable and skilled staff. Having a baby is for many people part of balancing everyday work and family life.  That’s why the Government had designed our Paid Parental Leave scheme to be delivered as a workplace entitlement, just like annual leave or sick leave. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-women-of-child-bearing-age-became-political-footballs/ Update 11.30am: Julia Gillard has been tinkering again. Read about it here. Back in June 2004 I interviewed the director of obstetrics at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred hospital, who said women due to have labor induced in the last week of June for medical reasons were begging their doctors to delay until at least July 1. It’s a weird thing to do, but the tantalising prospect of the then-$3000 Baby Bonus stood on the other side of the end of the month. John Howard might have announced the Baby Bonus in the May Budget, but instead of starting it that day delayed until the beginning of the financial year, turning it into a biological lottery. “We would always suggest that the baby comes first,” Dr Andrew Child warned prospective mothers. “It is not worth $3000 to put your baby’s whole life at risk.’’ Thus started a run of uncertainty, competitiveness and anxiety for women and their partners planning a family, as successive leaders have played financial politics with their reproductive systems. There’s no end in sight. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-women-of-child-bearing-age-became-political-footballs/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-women-of-child-bearing-age-became-political-footballs/#item3705 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 On 1 January 2011 Australia will get its first ever national government-funded Paid Parental Leave scheme. This is a historic reform which will benefit not just mums, dads and babies, but also businesses. In designing our Paid Parental Leave scheme, the Australian Government engaged business as part of the process. We wanted to ensure the scheme is not only fair to business, but helps employers retain valuable and skilled staff. Having a baby is for many people part of balancing everyday work and family life.  That’s why the Government had designed our Paid Parental Leave scheme to be delivered as a workplace entitlement, just like annual leave or sick leave. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/new-paid-maternity-leave-is-not-perfect-but-its-a-step/ As I prepare to pack my bags for the somewhat daunting task of representing almost 200 million workers around the world as head of the global union movement, I’m proud that Australian unions – in partnership with so many other women from our community – have stood together and delivered paid parental leave after 30 years. When I joined my first union, we had just won maternity leave in our workplace: the basic right for women to return to their job after the birth of their child.  Never did I imagine that it would be three decades and more before we achieved a national paid parental leave scheme. At last - paid parental leave for all working women. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/new-paid-maternity-leave-is-not-perfect-but-its-a-step/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/new-paid-maternity-leave-is-not-perfect-but-its-a-step/#item3355 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 On 1 January 2011 Australia will get its first ever national government-funded Paid Parental Leave scheme. This is a historic reform which will benefit not just mums, dads and babies, but also businesses. In designing our Paid Parental Leave scheme, the Australian Government engaged business as part of the process. We wanted to ensure the scheme is not only fair to business, but helps employers retain valuable and skilled staff. Having a baby is for many people part of balancing everyday work and family life.  That’s why the Government had designed our Paid Parental Leave scheme to be delivered as a workplace entitlement, just like annual leave or sick leave. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-nationals-are-on-to-something-here/ It’s not often that Warren Truss gets much of a look in. In spite of the small detail that if Tony Abbott wins the election Truss will be the deputy prime minister, the Nationals leader isn’t exactly high profile on the mainstream radar. But this weekend the erstwhile half of the Coalition agreement pulled his leader up on the promise to introduce a wildly generous and inequitable paid maternity leave scheme - sort of. I’ve written before that Tony Abbott’s plan to tax (sorry, levy) our biggest companies to pay for a scheme that would see women on $150,000 paid $75,000 when they had a baby, was only going to deepen the irrational battle going on between women over how they choose to raise their children. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-nationals-are-on-to-something-here/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-nationals-are-on-to-something-here/#item3352 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 On 1 January 2011 Australia will get its first ever national government-funded Paid Parental Leave scheme. This is a historic reform which will benefit not just mums, dads and babies, but also businesses. In designing our Paid Parental Leave scheme, the Australian Government engaged business as part of the process. We wanted to ensure the scheme is not only fair to business, but helps employers retain valuable and skilled staff. Having a baby is for many people part of balancing everyday work and family life.  That’s why the Government had designed our Paid Parental Leave scheme to be delivered as a workplace entitlement, just like annual leave or sick leave. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/jenny-macklin-paid-parental-leave/ On Tuesday this week, 25,000 Australians delivered a clear message straight to the people who represent them in the nation’s Parliament. Signing a national petition, nurses, teachers, hospitality and construction workers, uni students, school kids, their mums and dads, their grandparents demanded that their elected representatives stand up and vote for the Rudd Government’s national paid parental leave scheme. After waiting decades, working families are set to be the big winners when the Government delivers Australia’s first paid parental leave scheme and Australia finally catches up with the rest of the developed world on this vital reform. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/jenny-macklin-paid-parental-leave/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/jenny-macklin-paid-parental-leave/#item3333 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 On 1 January 2011 Australia will get its first ever national government-funded Paid Parental Leave scheme. This is a historic reform which will benefit not just mums, dads and babies, but also businesses. In designing our Paid Parental Leave scheme, the Australian Government engaged business as part of the process. We wanted to ensure the scheme is not only fair to business, but helps employers retain valuable and skilled staff. Having a baby is for many people part of balancing everyday work and family life.  That’s why the Government had designed our Paid Parental Leave scheme to be delivered as a workplace entitlement, just like annual leave or sick leave. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/campaign-countdown-on-like-donkey-kong/ Prime Minister being photographed with babies – check. Opposition Leader warning MPs they remain underdogs – check. Character-questioning stories about the Prime Minister’s past behaviour out on the town emerging – check. When can we just call this a campaign? The phrase “it’s on like Donkey Kong” is the first line of a 1992 song by Ice Cube, Now I Gotta Wet’cha. It was more recently popularised by Seann William Scott’s character, Steve Stifler, in the American Pie movies. Explanations of the phrase offered by Urban Dictionary say it signifies “the highest level of go time” and of course is a significant escalation to “it”, whatever “it” is, being merely “on”. The signs are that in federal politics as of this week it is indeed on like Donkey Kong. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/campaign-countdown-on-like-donkey-kong/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/campaign-countdown-on-like-donkey-kong/#item3320 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 On 1 January 2011 Australia will get its first ever national government-funded Paid Parental Leave scheme. This is a historic reform which will benefit not just mums, dads and babies, but also businesses. In designing our Paid Parental Leave scheme, the Australian Government engaged business as part of the process. We wanted to ensure the scheme is not only fair to business, but helps employers retain valuable and skilled staff. Having a baby is for many people part of balancing everyday work and family life.  That’s why the Government had designed our Paid Parental Leave scheme to be delivered as a workplace entitlement, just like annual leave or sick leave. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/paid-parental-leave-policy-is-missing-actual-leave/ The Government needs to come clean on what its Paid Parental Leave Scheme really means for working families, starting with its name. It’s a great irony that an initiative called Paid Parental Leave does not actually give anyone an actual right to time off work after birth. In fact, if an employee has been working for less than 12 months, they have no guarantee they can return to their job if they take leave. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/paid-parental-leave-policy-is-missing-actual-leave/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/paid-parental-leave-policy-is-missing-actual-leave/#item3219 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 On 1 January 2011 Australia will get its first ever national government-funded Paid Parental Leave scheme. This is a historic reform which will benefit not just mums, dads and babies, but also businesses. In designing our Paid Parental Leave scheme, the Australian Government engaged business as part of the process. We wanted to ensure the scheme is not only fair to business, but helps employers retain valuable and skilled staff. Having a baby is for many people part of balancing everyday work and family life.  That’s why the Government had designed our Paid Parental Leave scheme to be delivered as a workplace entitlement, just like annual leave or sick leave. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-curse-of-kerry-now-tony-has-a-7.30-meltdown/ For the second time in five days one of the nation’s political leaders has gone MIA in 7.30 Reportland. It was Kevin Rudd’s turn last week, with the robotic PM overriding his own software with an uncharacteristically human snap at Kerry O’Brien over the failure of the Copenhagen summit: “It might be easy for you to sit in 7.30 Report Land and say that was easy to do,” Rudd spat. “Let me tell you mate, it wasn’t.” But tonight, it was Tony Abbott who found himself entangled in a protracted and excruciating exchange about “the two Abbotts” over his different positions on new taxes and maternity leave. And if Kevin Rudd lost his cool last week, Tony Abbott simply got lost - and he’s given Labor some great negative material ahead of the campaign. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-curse-of-kerry-now-tony-has-a-7.30-meltdown/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-curse-of-kerry-now-tony-has-a-7.30-meltdown/#item3103 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 On 1 January 2011 Australia will get its first ever national government-funded Paid Parental Leave scheme. This is a historic reform which will benefit not just mums, dads and babies, but also businesses. In designing our Paid Parental Leave scheme, the Australian Government engaged business as part of the process. We wanted to ensure the scheme is not only fair to business, but helps employers retain valuable and skilled staff. Having a baby is for many people part of balancing everyday work and family life.  That’s why the Government had designed our Paid Parental Leave scheme to be delivered as a workplace entitlement, just like annual leave or sick leave. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Just-end-the-blokey-brawling-over-maternity-leave/ Tony and Kevin are still fighting about it. John was never really interested in it. Paul only ever flirted with the idea. As for Bob, Malcolm, Gough, and all those who went before them, the concept never crossed their minds. It is almost 110 years since Australia became a Federation, and in that time our failure to introduce paid maternity leave can best be explained by recalling the first names of those who have run the nation. Australia had no founding mothers, only founding fathers. There was no Henrietta Parkes in 1901 and since then there has been no Paula Keating. Despite the growing representation of women in politics over the past 20 years, the combative character of our political system often owes more to the 19th century than the 21st. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Just-end-the-blokey-brawling-over-maternity-leave/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Just-end-the-blokey-brawling-over-maternity-leave/#item2978 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 On 1 January 2011 Australia will get its first ever national government-funded Paid Parental Leave scheme. This is a historic reform which will benefit not just mums, dads and babies, but also businesses. In designing our Paid Parental Leave scheme, the Australian Government engaged business as part of the process. We wanted to ensure the scheme is not only fair to business, but helps employers retain valuable and skilled staff. Having a baby is for many people part of balancing everyday work and family life.  That’s why the Government had designed our Paid Parental Leave scheme to be delivered as a workplace entitlement, just like annual leave or sick leave.