16th Jun 2010, 6:20 PM – Senate Paid Parental Leave Bill 2010, Paid Parental Leave (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2010 - In Committee - Administration of Payment

The majority failed to pass a motion to amend the Paid Parental Leave Bill 2010, which was introduced by Liberal Senator Mitchell Fifield.

Senator Fifield explained that the amendments aimed to ensure that the government's Family Assistance Office continued to administer the paid parental leave scheme indefinitely.(Read Senator Fifield's whole explanation here. ) He said that their purpose was to place the administrative burden of the scheme on the government rather than on employers.

Labor Senator Mark Arbib disagreed with the amendments. He said that the paid parental leave scheme is based on a design recommended by the Productivity Commission and argued that paid parental leave should be treated as any other work entitlement and therefore “paid in accordance with an employer’s normal pay practices and the employees’ usual pay cycle”.(Read Senator Arbib's whole argument here. )

Background to the bills

The Paid Parental Leave Bill 2010 and the Paid Parental Leave (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2010 were introduced by the Labor Government to establish a Government-funded Paid Parental Leave (PPL) scheme from 1 January 2011.(Read more about the Government's paid parental leave scheme in the bill's digest (522 KB) and the Department of Human Services website.)

References