✍️ 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 are taking that case to Parliament House. We want your name on the list we hand over.
Here For It. From Day One.
Read the new ‘More Time’ With Dad report
People who have signed the petition
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sushi paranjape signed 2026-09-04 12:40:55 +1000
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Joanna Holcombe signed 2026-09-04 12:30:52 +1000
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Renee Turner signed 2026-09-04 12:30:24 +1000Fully support, we need to do a lot better in this space. Scandinavian countries are daylights ahead of us in how they support parents and offer meaningful periods of paid parental leave.
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Regina Hall signed 2026-09-04 12:27:07 +1000Important policy change – what a huge shift it would establish.
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Emma Howard signed 2026-09-04 12:18:43 +1000
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Kashyap Patel signed 2026-09-04 12:10:08 +1000
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Imogen Holman signed 2026-09-04 11:30:46 +1000
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Shenay Frazer signed 2026-09-04 11:24:03 +1000
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Teas Waldron signed 2026-09-04 11:23:38 +1000
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Siddharth Joshi signed 2026-09-04 11:19:08 +1000
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Helen Walsh signed 2026-09-04 11:12:55 +1000
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Kirstie Le Lievre signed 2026-09-04 11:09:52 +1000For the world my four sons will inherit, hopefully one that truly invests in the early, formative days of families.
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Seirian Kitchener signed 2026-09-04 11:04:13 +1000
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Nicole Edkins signed 2026-09-04 10:46:39 +1000
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Michael Watson signed 2026-09-04 10:43:35 +1000Totally support this, would have been a wonderful option to have when I had my kids. Signing for future fathers and parents!
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Bronwyn Borbidge signed via Sebastian Costello 2026-09-04 10:41:33 +1000
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Maddie Wallace signed via Laura Morgan 2026-09-04 10:18:40 +1000
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Steph James signed via Sebastian Costello 2026-09-04 10:08:26 +1000
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Annabel Seller signed 2026-09-04 10:03:34 +1000
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Jessica Ridley signed 2026-09-04 09:53:14 +1000The lived experience of millions of famiiies should be considered here.
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Alexandrea Burrows signed 2026-09-04 09:49:14 +1000
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Emily Schade signed 2026-09-04 09:42:59 +1000Cannot come soon enough
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Janin Bredehoeft signed 2026-09-03 11:27:23 +1000
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Kate Blackwood signed via Sebastian Costello 2026-09-03 09:30:17 +1000
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Lourdina Rego signed 2026-09-02 21:52:00 +1000I support this cause
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Andrea Garland signed 2026-09-02 21:34:56 +1000
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Damien Hashemi signed 2026-09-02 21:02:18 +1000
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Jayden Farrell signed 2026-09-02 19:29:40 +1000
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Meredith Caldwell signed 2026-09-02 19:00:36 +1000
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Russell Rodrigues signed 2026-09-02 17:20:55 +1000