Australian Council of Trade Unions

Media Release

Thursday, 24 February 2011

New mothers’ connection with the workplace will be protected following the rejection by Parliament today of a Coalition attempt to weaken the Paid Parental Leave scheme, say unions.

A bill introduced by Liberal MP Bruce Billson, which would have turned paid parental leave from an employment entitlement to a welfare payment by removing business’s role in administering the payment, was defeated in the House of Representatives today.

ACTU President Ged Kearney said the Bill would have undermined one of the key objectives of the PPL scheme: encouraging women's participation in the workforce by maintaining a connection to their employer during the period of leave.

The Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission today registered the District Allowance (Government Wages Employees) General Agreement 2010.

The new Agreement will provide changes that ensure that in the future District Allowances (DA) will not fall behind the increased cost of living in regional WA. DA will now be adjusted every 2 years using a regional cost of living survey. In the middle years it will be adjusted using an agreed formula.

The increases in DA and backpay will apply from 1 July 2008 through to today’s date. The increases will apply to all members currently employed by the Department who are currently in receipt of a DA or have had DA paid to them at any time since 1^st July 2008.

From the 1^st July 2011 Greenough Prison will be included in the new boundaries of the Mid West Region and will receive DA for the first time.

Although this has taken a long time to bring to this point and is not everything we had expected from the previous Labor Government, the increase will be a significant improvement to our members working in the Kimberley, Pilbara, Eastern Goldfields and from next year the Mid West.