Pay to Stay? Australia Mulls Maternity Leave Changes
Under the proposal, working moms would forfeit a baby bonus in exchange for up to 18 weeks of maternity leave.
By Garry Kranz Comments 0 | Recommend 0
Bringing Up Baby: Australia’s government is proposing to pay stay-at-home
mothers as part of a revised maternity leave system. According to an article
published in The Australian newspaper, the plan would provide about 140,000
working mothers each year with up to 18 weeks of maternity leave, or roughly
AUS$540 ($350) a week. In exchange, the mothers would give up a AUS$5,000
($3,270) “baby bonus” and other tax benefits. However, stay-at-home moms would
remain eligible for the bonus, “existing family payments and a two-week
paternity payment for their husbands,” according to the October 3 article—or a
total of AUS$6,800 ($4,450), which is slightly more than half the average
two-income family’s pay of AUS$11,854 ($7,750). The measure isn’t without
controversy, as the government is set to apply “means testing” next year, which
could result in about 16,000 “high-income families” losing the baby bonus.
Workforce Management contributing editor Garry Kranz is based in Richmond, Virginia. E-mail editors@workforce.com to comment.
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