Fair Work Amendment (Baby Priya's) Bill 2025
Ms WITTY (Melbourne) (18:07): I rise today to contribute to the debate on the Fair Work Amendment (Baby Priya's) Bill 2025. This bill delivers on a clear and compassionate Labor election commitment. 'At least you didn't get to know your baby.' 'It's better this happened now, rather than later.' 'You can always try again.' These are things that were said to me when I experienced the devastating loss of my stillborn, nameless baby.
They were words meant to comfort; instead, they cut deeply into my grief. At the time, I felt anger and pain at how misunderstood I was. If the people that were closest to me were unable to understand the extent of my loss, how can we expect our employers to know what we are going through?
We can't. Losing a child at any stage is profoundly painful, yet stillborn and infant deaths are often met with silence, discomfort or avoidance. Despite how common they are, society rarely creates space for open, honest conversations about them.
By enshrining this in law, we acknowledge their existence, honour their parents' grief and affirm that their brief lives matter. By giving families the recognition and support they deserve, we help break the silence that so often surrounds stillbirth and infants' deaths and create a culture of compassion, understanding and remembrance. Many people who experience pregnancy loss feel isolated in their grief, partly because it's not widely acknowledged or understood.
There's a tendency to minimise the loss, especially when the baby wasn't born alive, which only deepens the pain for grieving parents. The lack of public dialogue also makes it harder for people to seek support, share their stories or honour the memories of their babies without fear of being dismissed or misunderstood. Breaking this silence is essential, not only to validate the experiences of those who have lost a child but to foster a more compassionate and informed culture around grief and pregnancy loss.
This bill allows space for families to honour their loss and grief—something I wish I'd had time to do. The Labor Party has committed to introducing legislation that ensures that working parents who experience the unimaginable heartbreak of stillbirth or the early death of a child are still able to access their employer-paid parental leave. This vital change recognises that grief does not ease the need for time to heal, to mourn and to begin processing such a devastating loss.
Where parental leave entitlements exist in a worker's employment conditions, this promise would protect a grieving parent's right to take the time they need without being forced to return to work in the midst of their sorrows. This commitment was made in direct response to the advocacy of Baby Priya's parents. This bill bears Priya's name.
Priya died when she was just six weeks old. Her parents' story is one of extraordinary courage and perseverance in the face of unimaginable grief. They chose to use their voice not only to honour their daughter's memory but to fight for change so that no parent would have to experience what they went through.
I am so grateful for the strength of Priya's parents, because when I and many people like me grieve we can't always find the strength to speak out. Grief can be so heavy. It stops us in our tracks.
That's why I'm so deeply grateful to those who can, to those whose courage moves where others cannot. Their voices carry us all. This bill is their legacy.
On behalf of parents who have experienced this loss, I thank them. It is a testament to the difference that determination, compassion and advocacy can make. The loss of a child is every parent's worst nightmare.
It is devastating, it is life altering and it is something that changes families forever. In those moments, parents shouldn't have to worry about workplace policies, legal ambiguities or administrative hurdles. They should have certainty.
They should be given the time and space to grieve, to heal and to support each other. This bill provides that certainty. It says clearly that, if you have an entitlement to employer-funded paid parental leave, the fact that your baby has died or was stillborn will not strip that entitlement away.
It is a simple principle, but it is profoundly important. I know exactly how devastating a loss it can be. Under the current system there is a troubling gap.
Employers are not legally required to provide paid parental leave. That remains a matter for workplace arrangements and contracts. But many employers do provide generous schemes, reflecting the reality that supporting parents benefits everyone.
It builds loyalty, improves retention and contributes to a fairer society. However, many of these schemes are silent on what happens if a child is stillborn or dies early in life. There is no clear entitlement.
There is no clear legal position. That uncertainty is unfair on parents and also on employers who want to do the right thing but are navigating untested legal ground. Some employers continue to provide paid leave; others feel they cannot.
Some have, unfortunately, refused leave, relying on silence in the agreement. Parents in those circumstances are left not only to grieve their child but also to fight for the leave they expected to rely on. This is a cruelty no-one should have to endure.
This bill closes that gap. It establishes a clear prohibition. Employers must not, because of the stillbirth or death of a child, refuse to allow an employee to take employer-paid parental leave to which they would otherwise have been entitled or cancel any part of that leave.
There are of course sensible exceptions. This rule does not apply where the employer's terms and conditions expressly allow cancellation or refusal in these circumstances, where those terms make clear that no leave is provided, or where other forms of paid or unpaid leave are provided that specifically address these circumstances. Employees also retain the right to request that their leave be cancelled, recognising that grief is personal and parents may choose different paths.
Importantly, the bill stops any employer from moving the goalposts after the law takes effect. The bill is not about interfering with good, fair-faith bargaining. The ability of employers and employees to negotiate enterprise agreements that go above and beyond the National Employment Standards remains a pillar of Australia's workplace relations system.
Bargaining leads to better outcomes for employees through fair conditions and for employers through certainty and engagement. This bill respects that. It sets a minimum floor of protection while maintaining the flexibility of workplaces to negotiate arrangements that suit their circumstances.
Employers can continue to innovate and lead on parental leave. This bill simply ensures parents are not left in limbo if tragedy strikes. The bill will apply broadly from the date it commences.
It covers national system employees—that is, virtually all private sector employees in every state except Western Australia. It will not apply retrospectively, but, from commencement, employees who are entitled to employer funded paid parental leave will be covered by these protections. This approach ensures that families receive certainty as soon as possible.
This bill aligns employer funded parental leave with the treatment of stillbirth and infant death under the National Employment Standards and government parental leave pay. Unpaid parental leave and government parental leave pay already provide clear rules in these situations. By bringing employer funded schemes into line, this bill reduces confusion and simplifies compliance for employers.
Penalties are aligned with existing Fair Work Act provisions. The definitions mirror existing legislation, including the definition of a stillborn child and the definition of 'child' from the Family Law Act. The bill applies equally in cases of adoption and surrogacy, ensuring all families are treated consistently.
This bill provides clarity that benefits employers just as much as it benefits employees. This bill does not mandate new leave schemes. It does not force employers to offer paid parental leave.
It provides a clear legal framework for those who already do, ensuring everyone knows where they stand in the most difficult of circumstances. This bill is about fairness. It's about compassion and it's about delivering on Labor values.
Labor has always believed in supporting working families. From paid parental leave itself to reforms like this, we recognise that good workplace conditions do not just happen; they are built through careful policy, strong advocacy and governments that care. Supporting parents through the worst moments of their life is not a nice-to-have; it is something any decent society should do.
I again pay tribute to Priya's parents. Through their grief they found the strength to advocate change. Their efforts have been instrumental in bringing us to this moment.
I acknowledge the many other parents, advocates and organisations who have fought for these changes over many years. Their voices have been heard. They are no longer lost in the silence.
In moments of grief, families should not face legal uncertainty. They should not have to plead with their employers. They should not have to fight for the entitlements they expect.
This bill ends that uncertainty. It provides clarity for employers. It provides compassion for parents.
It honours the memory of a little girl whose short life has inspired lasting change. This is what good lawmaking looks like—practical, humane and deeply grounded in the real experiences of Australians. I commend this bill to the House.