Premier reveals major leave, super win for public servants

Public servants will be able to take paid leave for IVF treatment, vasectomy recovery, breast or prostate cancer screening and for other chronic reproductive health conditions under a new nation-leading scheme.

Public servants will be able to take paid leave for IVF treatment, vasectomy recovery, breast or prostate cancer screening and for other chronic reproductive health conditions under a new nation-leading scheme.

Premier Steven Miles, to mark Labour Day, will also announce that the state government will begin paying superannuation on unpaid ­parental leave in a bid to close the gap between the retirement fund balances of men and women.

The two policies will cost about $103m each year.

Queensland will become the first state to offer public servants 10 days of reproductive health leave each year.

It will allow workers to take days off for fertility and IVF treatment, hysterectomies and vasectomies or other chronic reproductive health conditions like endometriosis.

The government has promised to have the leave entitlement in place by September, one month before the state election.

From July, superannuation will be paid for every week of the 52-week parental leave ­period of public sector employees, whether the leave is paid or not.

Premier Steven Miles will announce the changes on Labour Day. File picture

“I don’t think it’s good enough that the primary caregiver, predominantly women, are disadvantaged at retirement,” Mr Miles said.

“That’s why my government will begin to pay superannuation to those in the public sector on all parental leave, paid and unpaid, to ensure the ongoing economic security of new parents, especially women.”

Mr Miles hopes the private sector will follow the government’s lead – like it has done on paid domestic and family violence leave.

Queensland’s powerful unions have been pushing for reproductive health leave for about a month, with the Queensland Council of Unions in March claiming they had held “positive” talks with the state as part of their “It’s For Every Body” campaign.

The unions’ plan was to have the government lock it in for the public sector before making an election promise to insert it into state employment standards and extend it to local government in 2025.

Australian Workers’ Union Queensland secretary Stacey Schinnerl – a mother of two sets of twins conceived through IVF – backed the “special ­announcement”.

“My husband and I undertook multiple difficult and painful procedures as part of our IVF journey, and while we were lucky to have supportive employers throughout that time, too many men and women have had to use their sick leave, recreational leave or unpaid leave to pursue their dream of having a family,” Ms Schinnerl said.