Fair Work Amendment (Baby Priya's) Bill 2025

Mr TIM WILSON (Goldstein) (17:43): This legislation is an important piece of the patchwork of industrial relations law for the Commonwealth of Australia. It's hard to imagine the scenario that could present itself: a happy family, expectant and excited for the birth of their new child and parents looking to the future—whether it's the first child or it's a continuation of their family—only to be struck down by the brutal reality of having a child die shortly after death or a stillborn child.

That was the story of Priya's family, who, after 42 days, lost their child, never to be able to go on and live a full life. The tragedy of what occurred was that, in their suffering and in their grief, while Priya's father was able to secure the leave and continue on paid parental leave to deal with the grief of losing a child, the mother was in a difficult situation where paid parental leave didn't continue.

This is one of the most tragic and heartbreaking stories that you could ever hear as an Australian. I think we all believe that, in these dark moments of life, the only thing we could extend to our fellow citizens is a sense of compassion and empathy for the tragedy that has been lived. Of course they are not alone in their story, living with the reality of having a stillborn child or a child that has sadly passed away shortly after birth.

In that situation, every person who has lived with that reality deserves the most incredible warmth, generosity and empathy from those in their care and support network and from their employment to make sure that they are able to manage and deal with their grief. This bill is about respecting the fact that nobody should be forced back to work while they're dealing with the urgency of that grief.

This bill is about recognising that, as terrible as the situation that befell the family of Baby Priya was, the legacy of her life and her love will live on by making sure that nobody else need live it again. The Fair Work Amendment (Baby Priya's) Bill 2025 is a bipartisan effort from this House to make sure that it isn't lived again. It was an issue that arose during the last federal election, and the coalition gave a bipartisan commitment that we would honour regardless of who won government to deliver this change in law.

In supporting this bill today, we are delivering on that promise. It's important to recognise the importance of the humanity and compassion that must ultimately underpin our employment laws, particularly at a time of maximum vulnerability for so many Australians. Sometimes in this place we might talk about dollars and cents, wages, industrial frameworks, abstract rules, the place of unions, organisation or superannuation, which just happened.

But sitting behind all of those conversations are people, dignity, lives and families. But, just as we face the challenges of what happens when we have workplace deaths and the fact that lives will change forever—it is nothing in comparison, of course—we face the tragedy of what would happen when a family loses a child in such a way. This bill seeks to address that and, in terms of industrial relations instruments, to make sure that families have a pathway forward.

This bill amends the Fair Work Act to announce a new principle that, unless employers and employees have expressly agreed otherwise, employer funded paid parental leave must not be cancelled because a child is stillborn or dies. The bill aligns with the Fair Work Act and with the government's Paid Parental Leave scheme. It's about ensuring compassion, it's about ensuring dignity and, more importantly, it's about honouring and respecting the need to manage grief and to honour the lives that are lost and for families to be able to support each other through these difficult times.

When families endure the unimaginable scenario of losing a child, the law should never compound cruelty to the tragedy or add to the fate. It should not be a debate that leads to a dispute about when leave begins or ends. It should be about respect and treating Australians with respect and kindness in the workplace in these moments of grief.

With this reform, we are putting in place a guarantee that, in those darkest of times, in those darkest of moments, ones we hope none of us will ever have to live through, the system is going to stand by mothers and fathers and support them to be able to live out their grief and to support each other. This bill is also about honouring Priya's memory and her legacy of love.

What her family endured is something that no family should ever have to endure again. By ensuring these protections, we're turning this heartbreak into a legacy of love. It will be a gift to other families who have tragically experienced the same circumstances and ensure that this experience does not befall other members of the Australian community.

By passing this legislation, we're sending a very clear message to Australian society that we're not going to look away in moments of grief. This parliament is there to back people, to back families and to support them, and we will acknowledge, support and stand by them in their most vulnerable moments. In this moment, we also want to extend our incredible gratitude to Priya's family for being prepared to come forward.

I genuinely can't imagine the scale of the challenge that was faced by Priya's family, but it is their courage in standing up and bringing attention to their plight and their situation that has led to this legislative change. Out of grief and tragedy they saw that they could give such love and such a gift to others. It's at this time that I want to express the coalition's gratitude, because in the midst of this unbearable loss you have found the courage to lead.

That bravery has reminded everyone in this parliament and in the country of the importance of decency, kindness and humanity, and this legislative change will be an ongoing legacy of that. It's easy for politicians to talk about these sorts of important values, but it's much harder for families to live through them in these difficult times. You've done that, and Australia will be better for it, but you're not alone.

There are other families who have had to endure these challenges as well. I want to recognise those who have walked beside Priya's family to get to this moment, particularly Bears of Hope, which is an organisation that helps families who experience a loss of their baby and has been part of the advocacy for this bill. This bill is not just about the case of Priya's family, even though it may have been the catalyst for change.

It's about setting the standard for all of us and honouring the families whose stories didn't make it all the way into this chamber and who may not have gotten the attention they so justly deserved. When we reached out to Bears of Hope and asked them about some of those stories, people were so generous in coming forward. They understood how important this moment was for honouring not just their experience but the legacy of their loved ones.

I've de-identified some details out of respect in honouring the legacies of those who have passed, but I don't want those families to in any way misinterpret that as me seeking to dishonour the memory of their lost child. This is one story: 'In 2021 I had started a new job in the private sector, and, not long after, my wife and I excitedly found out we were expecting our second child.

Being a new employee, I had no leave or sick leave accrued. I mentioned this because in June 2021 we received the news that our baby boy had a terminal diagnosis and that he would not survive pregnancy. Initially, the workplace was supportive whilst I used that minimal leave I had to attend appointments with specialists and go to places like the funeral parlour to discuss cremation versus burial.

I then returned straight back to work. When discussing the inevitable with my manager and letting her know that it was my intention to use two weeks of half-pay parental leave'—yes, two weeks at half pay is all dads get—'this was her reply: "Two weeks half pay? Why are you going to take two weeks?

Do you even need two weeks? I mean, it's not like you're going to have a baby at home to look after." Luke was born sleeping on 19 July 2021, and I was requested back to work on 30 July 2021.' Here is a second story: 'I'm unfortunately a bereaved parent who also experienced the unconscionable lack of empathy and support from my employer at the time, who I had provided my dedicated service for many years.

My twin pregnancy was extremely high risk with complications, which my employer was aware of. I ended up giving birth at 23 weeks and five days pregnant. I notified my employer, and my twins tragically died in the NICU at four days old on 16 April 2021.

Mere weeks after my twin daughters' funerals, I was contacted by my employer at the time, asking about my return to work. This was, of course, met with confusion and shock for me given I had preapproved paid maternity leave, which was to commence upon the birth of my daughters. They referred to their employee handbook, stating that the paid maternity leave is only for parents who are the primary caregiver of a child and, given my regrettable circumstances, I was no longer eligible for the company funded parental leave.

I was in complete shock that, in such a dark, tragic time of my life, I was then treated with such a lack of empathy and disregard for my circumstances. I couldn't believe that I remained eligible for parental leave payments from Centrelink, who was acknowledging that I am still a parent who gave birth and still required time off work to recover and heal regardless of whether my children were alive or not, yet my employer, whom I had been loyal to for many years, could make such a heartless decision, making an extremely dark time for myself and my family even worse.

I was then faced with negotiating a return-to-work plan with my employer instead of having those sacred days and weeks to heal and grieve my children and face my new reality. I had no choice but to take unpaid maternity leave from my employer, who wasn't very willing to accept it. It was so unfair and made an already tragic and heartbreaking time in my life even worse.

I am writing this to help in any way that I can, as I don't want any bereaved parents to face the same heartless circumstances so many of us already have due to an inhumane lack of empathy from employers.' Here is another story: 'This past August, I gave birth to a stillborn baby at 39 weeks and four days. Before our baby's arrival, my husband and I had arranged our parental leave with our respective workplaces.

I was set to take a combination of unpaid maternity leave and government parental leave for 12 months. My husband had arranged two weeks of paid paternity leave from work and two weeks of paid parental leave through the government. I want to share what happened after our baby's passing.

I gave birth on a Sunday. The following day, my husband called his workplace to inform them of our loss. He was told he would be only entitled to two days of bereavement leave.

This was devastating for me to hear at the time. I felt that I would be left to grieve alone without my husband by my side. My husband, on the other hand, was also in shock and trying to process the sudden loss of our child, and he was not in a fit state to return to work.

After a period of uncertainty, we were told that his manager had to escalate the situation to HR to seek approval for him to retain his paid paternity leave. While the leave was eventually approved, his workplace also questioned whether he still needed four weeks off. At the time, this felt deeply invalidating and made me feel like our baby's death didn't matter or was an inconvenience for the company.

The stress and uncertainty during this time were immense. Being given space to grieve is not a luxury; it's essential. Parents need time to support each other through the trauma of losing a child.

It is heartbreaking to know that others in our situation are expected to return to work so soon, before they have had a chance to begin healing. The four weeks we had planned to spend bonding with our baby were instead spent navigating grief, engaging with support services, seeking counselling, waiting for our baby to be returned from autopsy so we could spend a few final hours together, arranging a funeral and trying to find a way forward.

Parents should be given adequate time to come to terms with their loss. Honouring paid parental leave entitlements is the least that can be done. Offering just two or three days of bereavement leave is simply not enough.

We spent two to three days in hospital holding and cherishing the very short time we had with our precious baby. This time was priceless for us. I fully support Baby Priya's bill and know it will make a difference to parents who leave the hospital with empty arms and broken hearts.' This is another story: 'I work as a registered nurse and I had my stillborn daughter at 33 weeks and was supposed to go on maternity leave at 36 weeks.

My CEO cancelled my maternity leave and allowed me to have two weeks of compassionate leave—from my own sick leave, might I add. I understand that in our employee agreement there is a clause that, if I had a fetus born at 12-weeks gestation and for it to have lived, they would have allowed maternity leave. This is absolutely ridiculous.

I was now in the pits of my grief and severe stress, as I have a mortgage to pay and need to pay for this. I felt that I was in a corner with nowhere else to go but to go back to work life like nothing has happened, whilst still bleeding and recovering from birthing my dead child. Being a nurse and in the health industry I felt that I should have been more supported but, unfortunately, was not.

Even more kick in the teeth was that I found out a few years before my time that a higher-up manager also had a stillborn and they paid her maternity leave. No parent should go through losing a child. I would not wish this on my worst enemy.

Workplaces should honour their maternity leave regardless of the circumstances of their loss.' Reading these stories is heartbreaking. Reading these stories into the nation's record is actually one of the hardest things I have done in this role, but it is nothing in comparison to the hardship of those who have lived them. We can't take back the past, the decisions that people have made and the absence of empathy that people have lived.

But we do have choices. We have choices about the type of country we want to be, the types of laws we want to live out and the changes that we can make so that people don't have to live these situations again. There are, of course, lots of conflicting issues that can arise.

But, when it comes down to it, I have no doubt that, for the overwhelming majority of employers across this nation, in the situation where people have a stillborn child or a child who dies shortly after birth during a period of paid parental leave, their first course of action is the most incredible wave of empathy and support for the parents who have lived the most incredible tragedy.

Sadly, unfortunately, there will always be a few outliers. But there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the overwhelming majority of Australians do the right thing to support those families, to work with them and to give the assistance that's required. There will be some people who, stoically, will want to find a pathway back to employment as part of managing their own grief.

How they do that I don't quite understand, but that's not a matter for me; that's something for them and their employer, and the bill provides a pathway for people to do that based on their own unique circumstances. But it's so important that we set a standard about the tragedy that occurs and about the pathway for the law to recognise the tragedy that exists, the grief that's lived and how the law must change to respect and reflect that to support those in that incredible time.

That is what we're seeking to achieve in this amendment. It ensures that, when Australians face grief, their workplaces and our laws reflect the best of our national character as Australians: fairness, respect, compassion. It also reminds us as legislators that the true meaning of society is how we treat people in their moments of vulnerability, including by honouring loss.

That is not just what this bill does; it also empowers those who have gone through the most unimaginable tragedy. By passing this bill, we're sending a clear message that in Australia no family grieves alone and no parent should face the indignity of loss—and they should certainly not do so alone, as Priya's family did. Respectfully, I, with the support of the coalition, am incredibly proud to support this bill.

It honours Priya's memory and her family's courage, as it does all families who have experience of such devastation. I hope this reform stands as a reminder to all of us in this place that, beyond the politics that sometimes leaves this place feisty, our duty is to bring decency, kindness and humanity into the laws of our nation. This reform is the legacy of Baby Priya and of her family's love for her that will bring this parliament together, and I call on all others in this parliament to support this bill and to be part of making sure that no other family ever has to endure what Priya's family has endured or live through what the other families that I read out and those who have not been recorded in the Hansard have lived through.

Otherwise, accept that we are choosing to knowingly allow the status quo to continue for those families in loss and grief.