- SBS ONLINE
- About
- Feedback
- Terms & Conditions
- Privacy Disclaimer
- © 2002 - 2007 Special Broadcasting Service
- WORLD NEWS AUSTRALIA
- SERVICES
- Transcripts
- Podcasts
- News Feeds/RSS
- REGIONS
- Australia
- Asia-Pacific
- Europe
- Middle East
- Americas
- Africa
- OPINIONS
- Your Say
- Blogs
- WORLD GUIDE

Watch Video
Podcasts
Blogs
LEVY TO FUND MATERNITY LEAVE
Tuesday, 6 May, 2008RELATED CONTENT
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Should Australia have paid maternity leave? The government is considering plans for workers to pay part of their wages into a maternity leave fund - would you contribute?
COMMENTS
First [1][2][3][4][5] LastJack from Melbourne - I have no idea how your response was relevant, seems your were just hating on women. dont forget you came out of one.
It seems that labour can\'t destroy Aussie jobs fast enough. How many companies will these policies force offshore? How many people will continue to work when they are forced to support someone else\'s indulgence. What kind of future are we creating for these unborn? Socialism, in the end, is social suicide; as it weakens the makers and strenthens the takers. Whatever happened to being responsible for our own actions, and where will it lead to not be?
Why should I pay for other to have children, the governments want older Australians to stay at work, pay for their retirement, pay more taxed
Talk about selfishness A! How is it not selfish to expect that the rest of taxpayers take on the costs of our very personal decisions? And I agree the world ought to see us as barbarians if we approved this paid maternity nonsense: was it not barbarians that came around taking away from other people because they needed the resources themselves but were not organised enough to procure them for themselves other than by taking away from others?
Woody, Australian tax payers DO indeed subsidize PhD students.
I would only want to contribute if it were available equally to either partner. Only then can we reduce the perception by employers that women are more likely to take time off for childbearing and rearing.
Have paid maternity leave for 2 months by all means but think about the ones who have to take on the extra load by the absent worker who chose to have a child.
If most employer was paying us a resonable pay we would be able to survive, but the way it's going there's no way to survive on one pay while having a child.
Why can't it be self-funded either by reducing the wage during the 9 months of pregnancy by half saving half for Maternity Leave, or have a system that a percentage of wage is deposited into your Superannuation Fund and be able to be drawn on when you have children...if you decide not to have children then your super has extra payments which benefits you in the long run. Why is it every time Labour comes into power we turn into a welfare state??
I am sick of this 'lifestyle choice' nonsense. Bottom line is, we'll need a hell of a lot of workers to cope with the demands of all you lot that are retiring. Having a child or two is not like getting a golden retriever. This is the future generation of Australia people! Do you not realise that, for the middle class majority, the costs of living have skyrocketed relative to the 1950s/60s/70s/80s and even 90s? I'm a professional 25 year old, and cannot imagine how, without a partner on the same high wage, I would be able to support even just one child. Give us a break, please, and stop making it so difficult for those who are hard working and educated to bring some decent children up.