✍️ 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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Gareth Beddoes signed 2026-09-14 17:08:16 +1000
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Richelle Linklater signed 2026-09-14 16:59:54 +1000
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Rachel Dove signed 2026-09-14 16:57:24 +1000
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Chloe Bellman signed 2026-09-14 16:51:28 +1000I am a new mum, and found this petition through two doting dads
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Rosie Burt-Morris signed 2026-09-14 16:46:52 +1000
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Brittani Cinquina signed 2026-09-14 16:42:06 +1000
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Jamie-Lee Nickl signed 2026-09-14 16:40:08 +1000
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Emma Burns signed via Sebastian Costello 2026-09-14 16:23:59 +1000
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Emily Davies signed 2026-09-14 16:14:26 +1000
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Rachel Darlington signed 2026-09-14 16:01:57 +1000
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Angus Thomson signed 2026-09-14 15:47:13 +1000
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Brooke Brummell signed 2026-09-14 15:29:18 +1000Proud 2DD listener
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Noni Roh signed 2026-09-14 15:20:25 +1000
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Alice McDonald signed 2026-09-14 13:20:02 +1000
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Jane oreilly signed 2026-09-14 13:07:05 +10002 doting dad’s podcast described this very well
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Kelsey Jamieson signed 2026-09-14 12:45:01 +1000
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Prindi Heathcote signed 2026-09-14 12:39:21 +1000
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Natalia Valenzuela signed 2026-09-14 12:27:10 +1000
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