The Fair Work Amendment (Baby Priya’s) Bill 2025 seeks to clarify the issue for families when a baby is stillborn or dies shortly after birth. Every day in this country six babies die or are stillborn. Six families are devastated, and they need to plan how to live this new reality. In their grief, they should not also have to deal with changes to a work agreement, particularly at a time when they are least likely to cope.

Thirty-two years ago I received flowers from my employer for the funeral of my daughter Meaghan, who passed away at five days old. The next day I received a letter from that same employer advising I was no longer on maternity leave and that if I wanted to continue my employment I needed a doctor's certificate to say I was unfit for work. In our devastation, I had a week to provide that doctor's certificate. I was barely able to make a decision about whether I wanted a cup of tea or not, let alone go to the doctor and explain why I was there. This workplace was a major bank. There was no empathy at all. Without the certificate, I felt I might lose my job and have nothing then to use to contribute to my family. I felt trapped, with mounting debts because of the funeral we had to plan that we didn't expect. I ended up going back to work early. My maternity leave at the time was not even paid, so I was not even a burden to that employer—and they were a major bank.

The bill before us is something that we need. We need to be able to give families the choice to make the decisions that they need to make, and this bill will take away this further distress. Of course, not all employers behaved like mine did, and certainly none do now. But, sadly, in some workplaces, this is still an issue. That's why I am pleased and relieved to see that this item has been brought forward for consideration. This bill honours the name of Baby Priya, who was just six weeks old when she died, but it honours many more children than Baby Priya. I take this opportunity to thank her parents for their constant advocacy, because they've used their loss and devastation to make this bill better and make our workplaces better.

This bill provides much-needed clarity for both employers and grieving parents about their entitlements should their child be stillborn or pass away. Specifically, employers do not have to provide paid parental leave; however, the legal position is unclear in workplaces where there is paid parental leave but there are no explicit entitlements addressing what will happen if a child is stillborn or dies. This is not right or fair. The bill before us means that employers must not refuse to allow an employee to take employer paid parental leave, to which they would have been entitled, in the event of the death of a child. Further, the bill means that an employer cannot cancel any part of that leave.

The bill also prevents an employer from amending a workplace policy by unilaterally varying an employee's terms and conditions after the bill's commencement. Importantly, the bill will not stop employers and employees bargaining in good faith—that is, this bill does not interfere with specific entitlements that employers have negotiated above and beyond the national employment standards which deal with stillbirth or the death of a child. This bill and its provisions will apply broadly and specifically to national system employees entitled to employer funded parental leave, although there are some exemptions. Vitally, to ensure people are covered as soon as possible, employees entitled to employer funded parental leave will be covered from the commencement of this bill. The bill will not apply retrospectively. Other matters contained in the bill relate to ensuring compliance and to penalties. To further reduce confusion and increase consistency, the bill uses existing Fair Work Act definitions where possible.

It is said that grief is not a sign of weakness nor a lack of faith; it is the price of love. In my experience and that of baby Priya's parents and every parent across our nation who has endured the loss of a baby, that is true. Some things in this place rise above politics, and this is one of them. We have come some way since my experiences those many years ago, but grief remains, as do the unanswered questions, and so do the unresolved matters such as the one before us. As a nation, a parliament and a community, we can do better, and that's what this bill seeks to do.

The bill will ensure that matters relating to leave in one of life's most vulnerable moments will be addressed. That will at least ease one burden for broken-hearted parents. For that, I thank the minister and Baby Priya's family, who bring this bill for consideration today.

Link to Hansard: Full Speech