✍️ 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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Mia Burns signed 2026-09-07 16:21:42 +1000
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Vicki Mills signed 2026-09-07 16:09:58 +1000Fully support this proposal
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Ella Hatton-Ward signed 2026-09-07 16:01:45 +1000
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Saskia Peters signed 2026-09-07 16:01:13 +1000
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Sara Woodburn signed 2026-09-07 15:52:45 +1000
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Brittany Elsom signed 2026-09-07 15:50:16 +1000
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Brooke Scott signed 2026-09-07 15:47:45 +1000
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Ruby Leahy Gatfield signed 2026-09-07 15:30:58 +1000
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Emily Creak signed 2026-09-07 15:21:51 +1000We will not achieve gender equality until raising a child is seen as a family responsibility and not a mother’s responsibility. Give families the support that they need to share the load.
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Samuel Convey signed 2026-09-07 15:17:43 +1000
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Ben Hampton signed 2026-09-07 14:58:44 +1000
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Vanita Bodhankar signed 2026-09-07 14:55:21 +1000
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Ashley Hunt signed 2026-09-07 14:49:24 +1000
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Emily Thomson signed 2026-09-07 14:33:45 +1000
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Lucy Bird signed 2026-09-07 14:18:16 +1000
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Rhianna Amos signed 2026-09-07 14:17:10 +1000
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Kara Moon signed 2026-09-07 13:26:28 +1000
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Meg Barnes signed 2026-09-07 13:22:03 +1000
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Eden Adler signed 2026-09-07 13:13:16 +1000
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Anna Massingham signed 2026-09-07 13:04:34 +1000
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Carly Trinh signed 2026-09-07 13:04:06 +1000
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Ingrid Maple signed 2026-09-07 12:54:48 +1000
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Michael Hickey signed 2026-09-07 12:49:32 +1000
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alaine Kinman signed 2026-09-07 12:37:29 +1000
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Jessica Lennon signed 2026-09-07 12:31:31 +1000
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Mia van Geldermalsen signed 2026-09-07 12:17:17 +1000
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Sharron Kirkpatrick signed 2026-09-07 12:11:28 +1000
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Alex Wicks signed 2026-09-07 11:41:43 +1000
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sophie robson signed 2026-09-07 11:32:13 +1000Every baby/ child needs 2 hands-on parents
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Sarah Atkinson signed 2026-09-07 11:28:45 +1000