✍️ 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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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
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Jane Callister signed 2026-09-07 11:13:20 +1000I 100% support this policy change.
And I quote, " Our working lives are long. Our time with our newborns is not. " -
Grayce Arlov signed 2026-09-07 10:46:37 +1000
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Kate McLaughlin signed 2026-09-07 10:14:49 +1000
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Gemma Ocean signed 2026-09-07 10:13:15 +1000Love your work
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Erin Paczynski signed 2026-09-07 10:04:06 +1000
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Victoria Lindores signed 2026-09-07 10:01:49 +1000
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Janaya Gurtner signed 2026-09-07 09:51:39 +1000My husband lost time with our children due to needing to return to work so we would have the money to keep said two children fed with a roof over our heads. It’s so sad so many parents do not get that precious time back with their children
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Sarah Overington signed 2026-09-07 09:50:27 +1000
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Jacob Knauth signed 2026-09-07 09:47:50 +1000
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Georgina Sproule signed 2026-09-07 09:42:32 +1000
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David Toporzisek signed 2026-09-07 09:42:26 +1000
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Caitlin Di Girolamo signed 2026-09-07 09:32:52 +1000
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Gabriella Avenia signed 2026-09-07 09:20:26 +1000My experience was the same as Georgie – a husband working in the public health service who had very little access to leave and on top of that, a culture in medicine that medicine and career must come first and any ‘break’ was considered an interruption to training. The fight against this culture over the first years of my children’s life was so hard on me and my husband. I support any advocacy in this space and know how great the benefits – to mother, baby and father – of adequate parental leave for both parents.
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Lauren Pryce signed 2026-09-07 09:17:45 +1000
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Willow Williamson signed 2026-09-07 09:16:58 +1000
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Georgie Carroll signed 2026-09-07 09:06:36 +1000
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Luke Field signed 2026-09-07 08:58:49 +1000Here for it-
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Amy Birtles signed 2026-09-07 08:56:50 +1000
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Hanna Phillips signed 2026-09-07 08:54:35 +1000
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Adelaide McGuire signed 2026-09-07 08:28:09 +1000
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Declan McCauley signed 2026-09-07 08:04:30 +1000