Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Greens support the Fair Work Amendment (Baby Priya's) Bill. It's a relatively small change that will make a big difference to families experiencing the grief of stillbirth or the loss of a baby. Stillbirth, miscarriage and infertility are issues that affect so many families. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's data, six babies are stillborn each day and two die within 28 days of birth. Sadly, these are issues which are still not talked about enough. That silence can compound the grief, trauma and isolation experienced by families. The Pink Elephants Support Network's recent report, Not just aloss, found that 75 per cent of women coping with stillbirth and miscarriage feel unsupported and abandoned, particularly in rural and regional areas without specialist support services.

The profound grief caused by the loss of a child can be as all consuming for parents as the experience of having a child born healthy. Some parents will choose to go back to work quickly to try and regain some normalcy, but, for many grieving parents, including Baby Priya's mother, returning to work when you were expecting to be on parental leave is a trauma that they are simply not ready for. If leave is unavailable, parents end up taking long periods of unpaid leave, dropping down to part-time work or quitting—all while facing medical costs and counselling expenses. Employers need to provide flexible, sensitive workplaces that support staff through these challenges.

This bill would ensure that parents affected by stillbirth and infant loss can continue to access their employer related paid parental leave if they wish to. The government funded scheme already extends to stillbirth and infant loss, and this bill grants the same support to private sector employees. All parents deserve the security of paid leave while they grieve and adjust. This change was recommended by a Senate inquiry into stillbirth research and education in 2018, chaired by Senator McCarthy and my former Greens colleague Senator Janet Rice. But it's before us again today because of the bravery and courage of Baby Priya's parents. Ten days after the tragic loss of their daughter, Priya's mum was told to come back to work. They turned their heartbreaking loss into a call for action so that other parents didn't have to experience what they went through, and I'm so grateful to them for their advocacy. I want to acknowledge the support of the Australian Services Union, of which I'm a proud member, for the support that they provided to Priya's mother and for their campaign for reform, and also my New South Wales Greens colleague Abigail Boyd for continuing to raise this issue. We need to talk more openly about stillbirth, miscarriage and infertility; and provide support to those affected, including partners and family members.

Beyond this bill, we should consider introducing premature birth leave, currently provided by the Australian Public Service and the New South Wales public sector, so that parents don't have to eat into their paid parental leave before a baby even comes home. We should provide paid reproductive health leave for miscarriage, terminations and infertility treatments; and make it easier to access counselling and support after pregnancy loss. We should extend paid parental leave to 52 weeks, in line with international best practice. We should do all of this because stillbirth and infant loss is a public health issue. It's a mental health issue. It's a compassion issue. It is not an opportunity for conservative men to perpetrate and perpetuate their culture wars.

The bill clearly and clinically defines stillbirth and infant loss. It seeks to support parents experiencing this loss. Any claim otherwise is simply a stalking horse against women's reproductive rights. To suggest that any parents in this situation did not want to be parents is hurtful, disrespectful and out of touch. It ignores the evidence that terminations post 22 weeks are extremely rare, are traumatic and often involve pregnancies that are incompatible with life. These are private decisions supported by medical advice. Using the shield of 'unintended consequences' and 'seeking clarity', a few conservative men in the coalition have taken a bill that is about grieving parents getting dignity and certainty and used it to attack bodily autonomy. Australians are not interested in this antiwoman, antichoice nonsense. Using this bill as a vehicle for their Trump-style talking points, while doing absolutely nothing about women's rights on any other issue, is utterly shameful.

As I said at the outset, this is a bill to extend support to parents at one of the worst times imaginable, and it is the right thing to do. Once again, I thank everyone involved in bringing this bill to parliament, and I hope that having Baby Priya's name associated with such a profound change is something you can feel really proud of.