✍️ 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
-
Caitlyn Dalgarno signed 2026-10-05 23:47:14 +1100Paid parental leave equality is a win for everyone. What a postpartum mother needs is full support of her partner while she recovers and navigates the fourth trimester with their baby.
The minimum wage aspect of the current government “paid”parental leave is misleading. My husband and I were not able to take the full 26 weeks we were entitled to because, in this current climate of ever increasing interest rates, fuel prices, and just general living, we need two full salaries to maintain our household. My baby was only four months when I went back to work. I was “lucky” that my company provided me with 12 weeks of parental leave at full pay, plus whatever I was entitled to by the government. My husband’s company offer nothing other than the government’s parental leave. Therefore he took two weeks at the beginning and then had to go back to work. That’s not fair on him, on me, or on our baby.
There’s no wonder the birth rate in Australia is declining. -
Bronte Dooley signed 2026-10-05 20:07:31 +1100
-
Kayla Morgan-Jones signed 2026-10-05 15:07:46 +1100
-
Joy Liew signed 2026-10-05 13:55:11 +1100Doter
-
Breanna Banos signed 2026-10-05 12:59:35 +1100
-
Stephanie Binns signed 2026-10-05 12:03:01 +1100
-
Jodie Woodburn signed 2026-10-05 09:47:33 +1100
-
Chih-Yu Wang signed 2026-10-05 09:39:07 +1100
-
Kate Henderson signed 2026-10-05 07:27:24 +1100
-
Teresa MacDonald signed via Sebastian Costello 2026-10-04 22:01:24 +1100
-
Amy Wilson signed 2026-10-04 21:40:30 +1100
-
Kelly Neucom signed 2026-10-04 21:31:58 +1100
-
Katie Johnson signed 2026-10-04 21:23:35 +1100
-
Mike OBrien signed 2026-10-04 19:00:26 +1100
-
Lara Montgomery signed 2026-10-04 14:55:26 +1100Love this so much!
-
Jenn Keatings signed 2026-10-04 14:28:06 +1100
-
Ashley Pyne signed 2026-10-04 09:50:39 +1100
-
Jr Rivero signed 2026-10-04 08:40:58 +1100
-
Oscar Slater signed 2026-10-03 21:46:05 +1000
-
Elli Del Borrello signed 2026-10-03 18:15:58 +1000
-
Josephine Kingwill signed 2026-10-03 08:59:48 +1000
-
Yousra Ayad signed 2026-10-02 19:44:01 +1000
-
Teresa Falvey signed 2026-10-02 11:49:05 +1000
-
Mary-Anne Jack signed 2026-10-02 10:54:56 +1000My husband had six months paid parental leave when our daughter was born. Then when she was seven months old COVID hit Australia, and he worked from home for another 18 months.
He has a warm, close relationship with her that grew from those early years where it got to be fully involved. I want more families to have that opportunity. -
Chloe Cotto signed 2026-10-02 09:36:07 +1000I shouldn’t have to miss my babies milestones because I’m forced to go back to work.
-
Victoria Cao signed 2026-10-02 08:23:10 +1000
-
Kelly Albion signed 2026-10-02 07:42:57 +1000
-
Gloria Giang signed 2026-10-01 21:36:32 +1000
-
Michelle Simon signed 2026-10-01 21:28:17 +1000Everything flows from this
-
David Wyndham signed 2026-10-01 21:16:36 +1000