✍️ Add your name to give every baby the first year they deserve.
A baby's first year lays the foundation for the rest of their life.
On 1 July, Australia expanded paid parental leave to 26 weeks, with four of those weeks reserved for fathers and partners. That was a genuine win, and it was hard fought.
Four weeks is a start. It isn't a finish.
The scheme is paid at minimum wage — around half what an average full-time worker earns. For most families it doesn't stretch to a year, and it doesn't stretch to two parents.
So instead of choosing how they want to share their baby's first year, parents are forced to make financial decisions. One parent stays home. The other goes back to work. Patterns that last for years are set before families ever had a real choice.
To be clear about something: this is not leave taken from mums. It's leave added for dads. Every week a father is home in that first year is a week a mother isn't doing it alone.
Dads are main characters in family life, not cameos. It's time our policy settings said so.
It doesn't have to be this way.
The Parenthood is campaigning for 12 months of paid parental leave at a replacement wage, with dedicated leave for both parents, so every family can afford to share their baby's first year.
On Monday 7 September, dads, kids and supporters took that case to Parliament House.
Here For It. From Day One.
Read the new ‘More Time’ With Dad report
People who have signed the petition
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Amanda Alessi signed 2026-09-24 08:44:11 +1000
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Meagan Garvey signed 2026-09-24 08:40:17 +1000
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Amelia Estatheo signed 2026-09-24 08:39:26 +1000
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Shayana Bali signed 2026-09-24 08:36:59 +1000
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Matthew Uyanna signed via Wynnie Nwoga 2026-09-24 08:24:32 +1000This is very important for all Mothers in Australia
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Bianca Linder-Patton signed 2026-09-24 08:23:22 +1000
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Rosie Talintyre signed 2026-09-24 08:22:26 +1000
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Jillian Melville signed 2026-09-24 08:21:59 +1000
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Wynnie Nwoga signed 2026-09-24 08:14:17 +1000The guilt I feel losing my baby at 8 months, I had to return to work after the 6 months paid leave and losing her 2 months after returning to work will hurt me forever. Babies deserve their parents undivided attention atleast for their first 12 months. My husband never got the chance to use his parental leave until she passed. No parents has to go through this.
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Brooke Karam signed 2026-09-24 08:10:09 +1000
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Isabelle Hayter signed 2026-09-24 08:03:36 +1000
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loic Fougere signed 2026-09-24 07:57:17 +1000
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Alana Ambados signed 2026-09-24 07:44:05 +1000
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Amy Johns signed 2026-09-24 07:37:43 +1000
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Amber Swiety signed 2026-09-24 07:16:05 +1000
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Georgia Peters signed 2026-09-24 07:06:32 +1000
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Simone Lavender signed 2026-09-24 06:54:02 +1000
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Carolina De Oliveira signed 2026-09-24 06:49:12 +1000
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Stephanie Phelps signed 2026-09-24 06:47:55 +1000
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Ellie Lee signed 2026-09-24 06:43:11 +1000
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Catarina Soudo signed 2026-09-24 06:33:23 +1000
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Tanya Reyes signed 2026-09-24 06:13:42 +1000
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Olivia Felton signed 2026-09-24 05:55:25 +1000
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Stephanie signed 2026-09-24 05:38:21 +1000
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Anna Schuller signed 2026-09-24 05:20:45 +1000We are so far behind other comparable countries when it comes to parental leave entitlements. We wax lyrical about the importance of the first five years, while leaving mothers and fathers with insufficient time and financial and community resources to bond and connect with their babies. Why are we leaving families to bear most of the financial and time costs of caring for and raising children alone? We all know it takes a village to raise a child. The benefits of the unpaid and often unacknowledged work that parents do flow on to benefit all Australians; let’s give parents the support they need.
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Camila de cassia bernardes ribeiro reno signed 2026-09-24 04:56:30 +1000
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Livia Patricio Garcia de Souza signed 2026-09-24 03:31:20 +1000
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Claire Wilkinson signed 2026-09-24 03:02:44 +1000
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Siena Menegazzi signed 2026-09-24 02:43:32 +1000
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Ashliegh Shepherd signed 2026-09-24 01:54:57 +1000