The Nationals will canvass tripling paid parental leave in Australia to up to 18 months and income-splitting options for young parents to boost population growth as they attempt to front-run the Coalition’s childcare policy debate.
As the Liberal party considers a range of policy ideas, the Nationals will begin consulting with regional communities on measures including extending paid parental leave and lowering Hecs debts for women who have children.
A group of Nationals, led by shadow cabinet minister Bridget McKenzie, commissioned a report late last year from the Page Research Centre, a Nationals-aligned thinktank. The Nationals commissioned the same thinktank to draft energy policy last year and adopted many of its recommendations.
McKenzie told Guardian Australia the party’s policy was not about what was best for adults or the economy, but “about what’s best for children”.
“Page has put some bold, evidence-based policy on the table, and taken a holistic approach. We will now be ground testing these with [the] community,” she said.
“We will be having upfront, positive and honest conversations with the Australian community about the recommendations in the Page report, because we believe it’s important and necessary.”
The Page report calls for paid parental leave to be extended up to 12 to 18 months, and replace the childcare subsidy and expanding payments for parental care, “kinship care”, home care, community care or centre based daycare.
It also recommends introducing tax incentives, including optional income-splitting “during child-rearing years” whereby the higher earner transfers income or assets to their spouse to lower the household’s tax burden. Other incentives could include a Hecs reduction for mothers of 25% per child, and a 25% income tax reduction for mothers per dependent child up to age 16.
The report also includes recommendations to “significantly reduce the permanent migration program”, “phase down” international student enrolments, as well as building more housing, and making larger family vehicles more affordable.
McKenzie said the recommendations would go to the parliamentary budget office to be costed.
“Our kids deserve and need us to have a holistic response to the challenges modern families face.”
The Nationals discussed the recommendations and next steps at a planning meeting on Monday, receiving a briefing from the report’s authors.
The Liberal party is still considering policy options, so far favouring vouchers for childcare centres, nannies and grandparents. The Liberals are also weighing up family tax options, including income-splitting. The shadow minister, Matt O’Sullivan, has not ruled any policy in or out as the Coalition tries to claw back support among women and young Australians.
The Albanese government extended paid parental leave in 2022 from 18 weeks to 26 weeks which will come into effect on 1 July, paid at the national minimum wage. In 2024, the OECD average for paid parental leave was just over 52 weeks, while the European average was more than 66 weeks.
The case for increasing parental leave
Experts and advocates have called on the government to increase paid parental leave, which still sits at half the OECD average.
International child development and trauma expert, Benjamin Perks, said parental-child attachment, developed over a child’s first years of life, is “the best economic asset” for a country.
“It’s the main driver of productivity, learning, development, and when it’s absent, it’s a costly public health problem – addiction, crime, all of that stuff,” Perks the author of Trauma Proof said.
“I would consider extending parental leave [in Australia]. Parents in countries like Estonia, which are doing very well economically, very vibrant, innovative, high quality democracy, free market, they allow up to three years of parental leave.”
Georgie Dent, the chief executive of advocacy organisation, the Parenthood, has also urged the government to extend paid parental leave to 12 months.
“There are a lot of countries that offer far more generous paid parental leave policies,” Dent said.
“We often talk about creating an ecosystem where parents feel supported in the early years, and we believe that 12 months of paid parental leave is one of the key pillars we need to create that ecosystem. We then need families to have the option of high quality, totally affordable early childhood education and care for when they’re ready to go back to work.”
