4 May 2009

Whopping great maternity leave scheme for the ACT PS.

| johnboy
Join the conversation
21

Jon Stanhope has announced that the ACT Government is going to lead the way on paid maternity leave:

    “The ACT Government will introduce the nation’s most generous whole of government paid maternity leave scheme for public sector workers and double bonding leave, Chief Minister, Jon Stanhope announced today.

    The 2009-10 Budget provides funding of $7.06 million over four years to extend paid maternity leave for ACT public service employees to 18 weeks.”

On the bright side this will certainly skew the ACT PS towards fertile women who are up for it.

Which can only be an improvement.

Join the conversation

21
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest
VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy8:09 am 05 May 09

What, like a pooh-bear fight?

R. Slicker said :

More government largesse which blatantly discriminates against gays. I wonder what Andrew Barr thinks about this?

And against those who don’t breed children either. Who? Oh, those? Shut up and hand over your taxes. They’re needed for real people. The rest of you don’t matter. Except they need someone to do the work while the childed are making use of the family friendly workplace policies.

I’d love to see a family friendly workplace where ALL the employees had young kids! That would be an absolute pooh-fight.

sepi said :

Maternity leave is where you stay home from work.

LMFAO

Yep. And when us women are on maternity leave all we do is watch TV and drink coffee all day. Maternity leave is a great big scam dreamt up by feminists to ensure we have to “work” less than men.

Oh my nipples bleed for you. As does my uterus.

R. Slicker said :

More government largesse which blatantly discriminates against gays. I wonder what Andrew Barr thinks about this?

I think you’re assuming gay people can’t have children here. Sure, for most the process may be more complicated, but there are plenty of rainbow babies being born here in the territory. I’m sure some of those parents work in the PS.

grunge_hippy7:26 pm 04 May 09

when does this start???? I’m due in november! woo! timing!

On the adoption thing, I think one parent can take the mat leave provisions for that?

Well it will certainly help push me towards sticking with the ACT ps when I’m “up for it” as it’s been put. Well, it won’t hurt.

From what I seen of the women who come back part time to their jobs, they’re generally super productive during that time, get everything done efficiently so they don’t have to stress about it on their day/s off.

Deadmandrinking5:04 pm 04 May 09

R. Slicker said :

More government largesse which blatantly discriminates against gays. I wonder what Andrew Barr thinks about this?

With all due respect, with the exception of some lesbians, homosexuals rarely have to take time off to deal with newborns.

I’m all for being against discrimination against people based on their sexuality, but what you’re saying is completely stupid, sorry.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy4:43 pm 04 May 09

It’s a shame that many so women at my nameless Public Service Sector really take the pi$$ when it comes to maternity leave. There is one particlar lady who shows up to work once every blue moon and yet she still has a job because she had a kid once upon a time. No-one has the ballz to speak up to them because babies are taboo and they’ll be branded a sexist anyway. Sack the bitch I say.

I’ve seen a fair bit of that around this town. Some much more clearly defined performance objectives around what women returning to work need to do would be good. We shouldn’t expect them to be pulling 60 hour weeks straight away, but having them rock up and do nothing isn’t so helpful either.

sepi said :

Maternity leave is where you stay home from work.

I would have thought that it was stay home and do completely different work?

Maternity leave is where you stay home from work.

Beserk Keyboard Warrior3:49 pm 04 May 09

R. Slicker said :

More government largesse which blatantly discriminates against gays. I wonder what Andrew Barr thinks about this?

R-Slicker – you seem to have quite the chip on your shoulder regarding anything to do with sexuality, evidenced by the fact that you feel compelled to raise the topic in every one of your posts.

So you’re gay – we get it. Now can we move on?

It’s a shame that many so women at my nameless Public Service Sector really take the pi$$ when it comes to maternity leave. There is one particlar lady who shows up to work once every blue moon and yet she still has a job because she had a kid once upon a time. No-one has the ballz to speak up to them because babies are taboo and they’ll be branded a sexist anyway. Sack the bitch I say.

Skidbladnir said :

(I have no idea what the status of gay adoption is here in the ACT, though.)

I’d like to adopt a gay, that would be awesome.

R. Slicker said :

More government largesse which blatantly discriminates against gays. I wonder what Andrew Barr thinks about this?

Well, it doesn’t blatantly do it.
It has bonding leave provisions, which is what you use if you’re adopting.

(I have no idea what the status of gay adoption is here in the ACT, though.)

More government largesse which blatantly discriminates against gays. I wonder what Andrew Barr thinks about this?

Thanks Sepi — I’ll check it out.

Actually trying to negotiate childcare sharing with a group of friends; we have a stack of newborns and trying to to sort it out to share childcare between us. That would be ideal, but the timetabling is a bit nightmarish at the moment.

And you get people turning up to work two days a week (Mondays and Fridays) because those are the only days they can get childcare. Two days a week is almost more annoying than having someone just extend their unpaid leave.

psst – Jim – I hear the new Pinocchio centre at Dickson is quite good and has shorter waiting lists due to being new.

sepi said :

I dunno – it sounds good to me.

Although I’d also bring in a longer period of unpaid maternity leave. and that would attract people without even costing anything. Teachers can get 5 years, where APS staff get one year only, and then have to return to work.

With the current situation of daycare spaces only becoming commonly available in Dec/Jan/Feb each year, it makes getting back to work very complicated.

Yep.

I had the little one booked at 3 childcare places almost on the day of conception (about 2 weeks in) and now that she’s a month old the best we’ve done is number 150 on one of the waiting lists.

We’re exploring options, but having one of the parents forced out of work because of the lack of childcare is a distinct possibility. Attempting to get back into the workforce after this sort of absence is terrible – apart from the GFC, the stigma of having been out of the work force for any length of time is pretty damning for many employers.

I dunno – it sounds good to me.

Although I’d also bring in a longer period of unpaid maternity leave. and that would attract people without even costing anything. Teachers can get 5 years, where APS staff get one year only, and then have to return to work.

With the current situation of daycare spaces only becoming commonly available in Dec/Jan/Feb each year, it makes getting back to work very complicated.

Those “fertile women who are up for it” are going to be just as sorely disappointed with the breeding options available to them as they are now.

So no improvement at all really.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.