Louis Chua on Child Development Co-Savings (Amendment) Bill

Only just over half of fathers take paternity leave and the median period taken is just over a week. With that in mind, would fathers be in a position to take their full entitlement of expanded paternity leave from next year and feel comfortable doing so? MP Louis Chua raised this question in Parliament on Wednesday (Nov 13). He suggested making the Government payment of paternity leave to employers contingent on utilisation of at least half of the full four weeks, before gradually increasing this over time. This could further entrench the notion that paternal involvement in bringing up a baby is necessary, while taking into account employers’ concerns. On shared parental leave, Mr Chua suggested putting in place mechanisms to facilitate or mediate issues parents may face when making changes to the default equal allotment. Or, consider doubling the eligibility period for taking the leave to 24 months after birth. He also reiterated his previous call for flexible work arrangements to be enshrined into law - failing which, increase the number of days of childcare leave or have it on a per-child basis.