Fair Work Amendment (Baby Priya's) Bill 2025
Ms DOYLE (Aston) (19:15): I rise to speak on the Fair Work Amendment (Baby Priya's) Bill 2025. The Albanese Labor government is committed to ensuring that working parents who experience the unimaginable tragedy of stillbirth or early infant death can continue to access the employer-paid parental leave to which they are entitled. This bill makes that possible, where it is consistent with an employee's terms and conditions of employment, and ensures that compassion and fairness guide our laws in the most heartbreaking of circumstances.
This bill is named in honour of Baby Priya, a precious baby girl who passed away when she was barely six weeks old. Her life was so short, but her impact has been profound. The loss of a child is one of the deepest sorrows any family can face.
It happened to my own mother and father, who lost their fourth-born son, their baby boy Edmund, to sudden infant death syndrome. That was back in 1957. My dad could never speak of his overwhelming grief, having found Baby Edmund in his cot, and for my mum, when she did tell me stories of the brother I never knew, tears always welled in her eyes.
He'd just learned to crawl. This kind of loss changes families forever. It changes everything.
And, in those moments of unspeakable grief, no parent should have to confront the additional burden of uncertainty about their employment, their entitlements or their financial stability. This bill is a testament not just to the strength of Priya's parents but to their courage in channelling their unbelievable pain into purpose, and I pay tribute to Priya's parents for their tireless advocacy and for turning their personal tragedy into a call for justice and compassion.
They have given voice to the voiceless and, in doing so, they have helped shape a reform that will offer dignity and security to countless families in the years to come. No parent should have to go through this, but, sadly, they do, and in the future they will as well, I'm sad to say. This bill provides clarity both for employers and for grieving parents about what happens to paid parental leave entitlements following a stillbirth or the death of a child.
Under current laws, where an employer provides paid parental leave, there is ambiguity about whether those entitlements can continue if tragedy strikes. That uncertainty is fair to neither employers nor employees. It leaves families in distress at a time when they most need reassurance.
This bill removes that uncertainty and restores fairness. Under the new provisions, an employer must not, because of the stillbirth or death of a child, refuse to allow an employee to take the paid parental leave they are entitled to or cancel that leave, unless an explicit term of employment provides otherwise. It also ensures that employers cannot avoid these protections by later changing workplace policies or contracts.
In simple terms, if an employee has earned and been granted paid parental leave, the loss of a child will not strip them of that right. This reform provides certainty and compassion in equal measure. It recognises that paid parental leave is not only about caring for a newborn but also about supporting the profound transition to parenthood and the emotional and physical recovery that follows childbirth.
Those needs do not vanish when a child tragically passes away. If anything, the need for support becomes even more urgent. Importantly, this bill does not interfere with the ability of employers and employees to bargain in good faith.
Bargaining over entitlements beyond the national employment standards, such as employer funded parental leave, remains a cornerstone of Australia's workplace relations system. The bill preserves that flexibility while making sure that compassion is built into its application. This reform strikes a practical and principled balance.
It ensures grieving parents are treated with dignity and respect while also maintaining clarity and workability for employers. For business owners, it provides clear guidance and legal certainty. For employees, it provides a certain level of comfort and security at a time of intense emotions and vulnerability.
From commencement, these provisions will apply broadly to national system employees, covering nearly all private sector workers across Australia. It will not apply retrospectively, which ensures fairness and avoids legal uncertainty for existing arrangements. The bill also aligns employer funded parental leave with the government's Paid Parental Leave Scheme and the unpaid parental leave provisions already in the Fair Work Act.
This alignment helps reduce confusion for employers, employees and human resources professionals alike. It means the system will be simpler, clearer and more consistent across all forms of parental leave. Penalties for breaches will be consistent with those already contained in the Fair Work Act 2009, ensuring that the same standards apply across the board.
The bill also maintains consistency by using existing definitions from the Fair Work Act and the Paid Parental Leave Act, providing continuity and avoiding unnecessary duplication or confusion. Crucially, these protections will extend beyond biological parents. They will apply in adoption and surrogacy arrangements, reflecting the many pathways to parenthood in modern Australia.
Every family deserves to be treated with compassion and dignity, no matter how it is formed. This inclusive approach ensures that the law recognises and respects the diversity of Australian families. This bill is about empathy, certainty and fairness.
It ensures that, in the face of unimaginable loss, parents are not left to navigate a maze of red tape or uncertainty about their rights. Instead, they will have the time, space and security they need to grieve, to begin the slow and painful process of healing, without fear of losing their entitlements or their jobs. It is a small change in legislative terms but, for families enduring the worst heartbreak imaginable, it will make a profound difference.
It says to those parents, 'Your grief is seen and your loss is acknowledged, and your rights are protected.' This bill embodies the very best of what this parliament can do. It takes compassion and turns it into law. It ensures that our workplace relations system reflects not only economic fairness but also human decency.
The Albanese Labor Government believes in a fair go for every worker and in a compassionate society that looks after its people, especially as they navigate grief and their darkest days, and that is what this bill delivers. I commend this bill to the House.