Push for 38 week family leave
March 19th 2007 22:32
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This must seem like a God send for many overstressed families, many of whom would consider they are seriously losing the plot.
It doesn't help the children, it doesn't help mum or dad and it is certainly prohibitive of good, healthy, happy family relationships.
Many people want to lead a nice life, without the harsh language of violence and the violence they see all around them. Current day attitudes don't help and we see a lot of that happening on Orble, many of the most vocal, demonstrating daily that their lives are not happy and they do not feel fulfilled.
Why many of them should be so addicted to foul and uncouth language and seem so happy to express themselves that way is lost on me.
It is not the language of peace and harmony and is not environmentally friendly.
In my book the environment and its cleanliness extends to the mind.
So here is just a little encouragement from news.com.au
Push for 38-week family leave
By Patricia Karvelas
March 07, 2007 12:00am
Article from: The Australian
DISCRIMINATING against a worker for meeting family responsibilities would be outlawed and paid parental leave of 38 weeks would be phased in under a plan to revolutionise Australian workplaces.
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission will today release a report arguing for fundamental reform to the industrial relations, welfare and taxation systems to address inequality between men and women in the provision of childcare.
Among the 45 recommendations of It's About Time: Women, men, work and family, is the phasing-in of paid parental leave of 38 weeks - available to fathers and mothers - after the introduction of 14 weeks of paid maternity leave and a minimum two weeks' paid paternity leave.
Employers would also be required under the Sex Discrimination Act to demonstrate they had investigated if a request for flexibility could be accommodated within a proposed new Family Responsibilities and Carers Rights Act.
"It is clear that there is an immediate need for law reform to both increase the protections available to workers with family and carer responsibilities and to promote systemic change," says the report, commissioned two years ago by former sex discrimination commissioner Pru Goward, who is contesting the NSW election for the Liberal Party.
It says inequalities in the spread of the costs and benefits of paid work and unpaid care are unsustainable.
HREOC wants an extension of the family responsibilities provisions of the Sex Discrimination Act to outlaw direct and indirect family responsibilities discrimination by employers.
It calls for the establishment of a national working hours framework to promote flexibility and encourage workplaces to limit long hours. It says governments should develop incentives for employers to offer flexible working arrangements.
The Family Tax Benefit part B, available mainly to stay-at-home mothers, should be modified to help parents share paid work and care. Australia should also move towards a system of progressive individual income taxation in which childcare benefits are provided on a universal basis.
The Federal Government should examine moving towards a system of earned income tax credits for working families, which would encompass current Family Tax Benefit payments and the childcare tax rebate.
"Such an examination should consider the circumstances of families where parents are not in paid work which may be eligible for a set proportion of the full level of tax credit support," the report says.
The Fringe Benefits Tax exemption should be expanded to employers who provide childcare either on or off site, or subsidise it through allowances paid to employees.
The Superannuation Co-contribution Scheme should be expanded to people not in paid work because of care responsibilities for dependent adults or young children.
Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey said balancing work and family was not easy and that families needed help, but "heavy-handed regulation" was not the answer.
"Instead we need to create an environment in which people have the flexibility to arrive at arrangements which best suit them and their employers," Mr Hockey said.
"Much will depend upon the employee's personal circumstances, like their domestic situation, available care options, and their financial situation. Various options or a combination of them might be utilised, like flexible hours, part-time and casual work and working from home."
These sound like good ideas. I wonder when they will be implemented
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