Queensland to overhaul health, parental leave ahead of election

Queensland is trailblazing parental leave and reproductive health leave reforms.

An overhaul of paid health leave in Queensland will provide public servants with ten days of reproductive health leave a year, alongside access to leave for various health screenings.

Queensland marked its Labour Day with a $103m annual investment in health leave reform, with an emphasis on government employees.

All working Queenslanders will be eligible for superannuation payments on unpaid ­parental leave, in efforts to equalise the retirement prospects of men and women in the state.

In terms of treatments that public servants will be eligible to take paid leave on, those include accessing IVF, fertility treatments, hysterectomies, vasectomies, breast or prostate cancer screening and reproductive health treatments.

By July this year the Queensland government is slated to be a nation-leader in reproductive health leave and parental leave. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The Miles government has slated the change for September, ahead of this year’s state election.

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

“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.”

The changes to superannuation will come two months earlier in July, with all parental leave for public sector employees eligible for payments year-round.