The government’s expansion of paid parental leave to 26 weeks has passed the Senate today and will become law.
It means from 1 July this year, more than 180,000 families will benefit from an extra two weeks of leave (22 weeks in total). This number will then increase to 24 weeks from July 2025 and 26 weeks from July 2026.
The changes are designed to encourage families with two parents to share the care, with four weeks reserved for each parent.
With the changes to paid parental leave now approved, the next step for the government is to legislate its recent announcement that it will pay superannuation payments to those using the government-funded paid parental leave scheme.
Source: Six months of paid parental leave approved by Senate