Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Improvements for Families and Gender Equality) 2022

✦ Plain-English Summary

# Paid Parental Leave Amendment 2022

## What it does
This law updates Australia's paid parental leave system to make it fairer for both parents and signal that taking time off work to care for kids is normal for everyone. The changes aim to get fathers and partners taking more parental leave, not just mothers, and to support women staying in the workforce.

## Why it matters
More balanced parental leave means families have real flexibility in how they share caring duties, rather than defaulting to mums stepping back. It's also about recognising that dads bonding with newborns and sharing caring responsibilities isn't a side issue—it's central to how modern families work.

## Key details
- The law came into effect on **26 March 2023**
- It rewrites the core purpose of the paid parental leave scheme to explicitly prioritise **gender equality and work-life balance** for both parents
- The changes apply across multiple linked laws (tax, family assistance, welfare, and employment law) to make sure the system works consistently

Official Description

Amends the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010 to: extend paid parental leave (PPL) pay from 18 weeks to 20 weeks from 1 July 2023, with two weeks reserved on a 'use it or lose' basis for each claimant; remove the notion of primary, secondary and tertiary claimants and the requirement that the primary claimants of parental leave pay must be the birth parent; make paid parental leave consist only of flexible PPL days and remove the requirement to not return to work in order to be eligible; introduce a $350,000 family income limit under which families can be assessed if they do not meet the individual income test; and allow an eligible father or partner to receive parental leave pay regardless of whether the birth parent meets the income test, residency requirements or is serving a newly arrived resident's waiting period. Also makes consequential amendments to eight Acts.

Committee Referrals

Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee

Full bill PDF →APH page →

Audit History

Introduced

30 Nov 2022

Last updated on APH

10 Apr 2026

Outcome date

10 Mar 2023

Last checked by Crossbench

yesterday

Full text indexed

yesterday

🗳️

No formal division recorded

This bill passed by voice vote — parliament agreed without calling a formal count. A division is only recorded when a member explicitly requests one.

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