Inquiry into Paid Maternity, Paternity and Parental Leave by the Productivity Commission

Personal responses

The Commission is keen for people to tell us about their experiences of time away from work to have a baby and how this has (or could be) affected by the provision of paid parental leave. For example, issues that you might address could include:

• Were you eligible for paid or unpaid parental leave? If eligible, did you take it all – and if not, why not?
• Did (or would) it affect the time you took off work, your capacity for breastfeeding, the baby’s and your health, stress, relationships, your interaction with your baby, and your family life generally? How and why?
• What were the distinctive benefits of prenatal as opposed to postnatal leave?
• Did your partner get paid parental leave, and did you both use it to care for the baby?
• Did you use other types of leave to care for your baby? If so, what types and for how long?
• What were the good and bad aspects of the leave arrangements?
• How did your leave arrangements affect your employer? Was your employer positive or negative about you taking leave. Why?
• Did you return to work? On a full time, part time or casual basis? To the same employer? To the same or a similar job?
• Did your leave arrangements affect how quickly you went back to work? In what way?
• Is the amount of paid or unpaid parental leave now available from your work sufficient?

If you want to maintain your privacy, you can provide the personal information you want kept confidential as a separate document — just let us know which document is confidential.

The Commission will not make this information public, but might draw on it for the report in ways that do not allow you to be identified.

Even if the main basis for your submission is information you want kept confidential, the Commission would still like you to include your views on what the most suitable paid parental leave scheme would look like. This part of your submission should be public.