Flexible Working Arrangements

Brown, J 2008, Million dollar babies: Paid parental leave and family policy reform (Issue Analysis, No. 102, November 2008) [Online], Centre for Independent Studies, St Leonards, NSW [Accessed 1 December 2008]

In February 2008, the federal government asked the Productivity Commission to recommend a national paid maternity, paternity, and parental leave scheme. In September, the commission released its draft report, calling for eighteen weeks of parental leave and two weeks of paternity leave. Mothers who did not qualify for parental leave would be eligible for a maternity allowance equal to the existing Baby Bonus. The Commission will make its final recommendation in February 2009.

This paper critiques the Productivity Commission’s draft recommendations and evaluates how well the stated objectives will be met. It argues that:

  • The evidence in favour of a paid maternity leave scheme is most compelling in regards to improving child and maternal health, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that such a scheme will achieve this objective better than the existing system of a cash payment plus unpaid parental leave entitlements.
  • Women’s workforce participation may be more effectively increased by reforming existing family payments to remove disincentives for mothers to work.
  • Requiring employers to participate in the scheme puts an unnecessary strain on business and ‘crowds out’ employer-paid entitlement schemes.
  • The proposed scheme would add another layer of complexity to the family payments system, and contribute to tax–welfare ‘churn.’
  • Rather than being designed to promote a particular social goal, family policy should enable individuals to make choices about work and family based on their own situation and preferences.



Sardo, S & Begley, P 2008, Parent trap: The parental leave debate: Research report (HR Pulse, September 2008, vol. 2, no. 3) [Online], Australian Human Resources Institute, Melbourne [Accessed 1 December 2008]

The third quarterly HRpulse survey for 2008 sought to identify the perspectives of HR professionals on the parental leave debate. A total of 1822 members and stakeholders of the Australian Human Resources Institute responded to an online questionnaire on parental leave titled ‘The Parent Trap’ during two weeks in June 2008.

The key findings of the survey include:

  • If paid parental leave is mandated by law, 63 per cent of the survey favoured a model in which government and employers share the costs, a finding which supports a policy response that would ease the cost burden on small business, also a critical concern of the survey sample.
  • 67 per cent of respondents whose organisations have a paid parental leave policy reported that a relatively large proportion of mothers (more than 50 per cent) returned to work with the same employer after a period of paid parental leave.
  • By contrast, 39 per cent of respondents whose organisations do not have a paid parental leave policy reported that more than 50 per cent of mothers returned to the same employer if only unpaid parental leave was made available by the organisation.