DaPP enables fathers and same-sex partners to receive two weeks of parental leave pay at the
national minimum wage, if they take two of their 52 weeks of unpaid parental leave. It’s not the most generous scheme in the world, but it is available and compares to schemes in the UK and Denmark. But as the numbers show, it is not widely used.

Why is this? I think there are a number of reasons: The scheme didn’t receive the same publicity as parental leave for mothers, so it is not as well known. Being paid at the national minimum wage means there will be loss of income for most new fathers and their households. Many workplaces are still reluctant to acknowledge fathering needs time off work, and stigmas are attached to fathers taking leave and working flexibly.

In addition, as a recent twitter feed I was reading detailed, it’s not easy to fill out the application
form.

It is very well established that paid paternity leave delivers benefits for all. For fathers, it helps with
bonding and reduces their risk behaviour; for children, it improves father–child relations over the life course, and for mothers it relieves some of the stresses around birth and assists in maintaining their labour force attachment. For business, paternity leave signals good employer practices and reaps rewards in terms of attraction and retention of the best and most committed workers.

The most successful leave schemes for fathers are those that are ring-fenced for men, pay well and
provide incentives to share care between mums and dads. Australia’s DaPP is nearly seven years old,
we’re all wiser and parenting patterns are changing. It’s time to evaluate, rethink the scheme
and make sure the next time there’s an international ranking system, Australia doesn’t come last in
offering good paternity leave.