The Parenthood

Home
Australia
Melbourne
The Parenthood

📣 Advocating for Aussie families
💪🏼 Campaigning for parental leave, better child care & flexible work
⚖️ Want stronger support
📩 Join us for change

The Parenthood page is a place where followers can interact with The Parenthood and each other to discuss issues of relevance. We encourage you to share your thoughts as they relate to the topic being discussed. We reserve the right to delete comments that contain obscene, indecent, or profane language; threats or defamatory statements; hate speech directed at race, colour, s*x, s*xual or

ientation, national origin, ethnicity, age, religion, or disability; or promote or endorse services or products. Content posted on our wall is considered public. Contributors consent to The Parenthood using their content in any manner in perpetuity.

05/06/2026

Paid parental leave is changing. From 1 July 2026, Australian families will have access to 26 weeks of government-funded parental leave pay, up from 24 weeks, with superannuation paid on top at 12%.

What's significant is the 20 days reserved for the second parent on a use-it-or-lose-it basis. Those days can be taken at the same time as the primary caregiver, making it easier for families to share care from day one.

For families who have quietly wanted more time with their newborn but weren't sure the system made space for them, this matters.

Those early weeks aren't just about cuddles, though the cuddles are real and they are important. They're about understanding the full load of caregiving, about partners being able to return to work with actual support at home, and about men discovering that being present in those first months reshapes what fatherhood looks like for the years that follow.

Australia is still a long way from the 52 weeks of paid parental leave that families need and that The Parenthood is calling for.

We're still paying at minimum wage rather than replacement wage, and still asking families to make do with less than they deserve. But the direction is right, and the inclusion of dedicated leave days for each parent is a meaningful signal that caregiving belongs to both parents, not just one.

We are The Parenthood: a national, not-for-profit advocacy group working to make Australia the best place in the world to be a parent. We're fighting for one year of paid parental leave, quality, affordable and accessible early childhood education and care, and family-friendly work. When parents are properly supported, children can thrive and communities are stronger.

Did you take parental leave — or do you wish you had?

03/06/2026

Is your childcare bill out of control? We're asking why.

Childcare fees went up 11% last year - three times the rate of inflation - and for many families childcare is now the second biggest cost after housing.

Once a year, the government has to answer questions about where the money goes… it’s called Budget Estimates and that week is right now. The Parenthood is watching because the questions being asked directly affect what parents pay, what services survive, and what support families can actually count on.

The things we’re watching:

1️⃣ Childcare affordability
2️⃣ Educator wages
3️⃣ Centre closures
4️⃣ Paid parental leave

With early childhood education and care centres and after school care closing across the country, what is the safety net if a major provider collapses?

And with paid parental leave moving to 26 weeks, what is the actual timeline to twelve months — because everybody knows 26 weeks isn't enough.

We are The Parenthood: a national, not-for-profit advocacy group working to make Australia the best place in the world to be a parent. We're fighting for one year of paid parental leave, quality affordable early childhood education and care and family-friendly work. When parents are properly supported, children can thrive and communities are stronger.

Are you paying more for childcare than you were last year?

28/05/2026

We'd like you to meet Tegan, the newest member of The Parenthood team.

She's a mum to three kids spanning toddlers to tweens — which means she's living every stage of this simultaneously. Just like you, she's in the trenches: juggling a school day that's shorter than a workday, navigating childcare waitlists, and knowing exactly what it feels like when your kids' favourite educator isn't at the school anymore.

But through all the messy drop-offs and chaos wrangling, she's a passionate advocate for making Australia the best place in the world to raise a family.

Swipe through her story, then go find her at Briefings & Bedtimes 👉 https://vist.ly/55qdj

26/05/2026

How can paid parental leave help fix the childcare crisis?

Right now, 30,000 babies under 1 are in formal early education and care in Australia. For many parents, that is not a genuine choice. It’s the only option available to them.

And the hard truth is that babies under 1 are the most challenging age group to provide care for. They require high staff ratios, intensive developmental attention, and sustained bonding. When services are stretched beyond capacity, the quality of care suffers and children pay the price.

Twelve months of paid parental leave changes that equation.

It gives parents the real option to stay home longer, reduces the number of babies placed in formal care, eases the pressure on services trying to meet impossible demand and leads to better outcomes for both children and parents.

Having a baby is the most radical life transformation a person can experience. Parents and babies deserve the time and space to recover, adjust and find their footing without being forced into an impossible situation by a broken system.

We are The Parenthood: a national, not-for-profit advocacy group working to make Australia the best place in the world to be a parent. We are fighting for one year of paid parental leave, quality affordable early education and care and family-friendly work.

When parents are properly supported, children can thrive and communities are stronger.

If every parent had a genuine choice about how to care for their baby in that first year, what would that change for your family?

22/05/2026

What do dads lose without appropriate paid parental leave?

Henry is a carpenter from Melbourne and a dad to two girls, Alice and Edith. He received two weeks of government paid parental leave, which he took straight after his daughters were born just to get through the newborn period.

After a year back at work, he quit his job entirely to take on the full-time caring role.

He and his wife now share a far more equal understanding of the pressures of both roles, and it has genuinely strengthened their relationship.

Most significantly, he became not just their primary caregiver, but their primary comfort. When his girls hurt themselves, they came to him.

That was pretty special.

It sucks, he says, that a lot of dads never get to experience this.

We are The Parenthood: a national, not-for-profit advocacy group working to make Australia the best place in the world to be a parent.

We're fighting for one year of paid parental leave, quality affordable early education and care and family-friendly work. When parents are properly supported, children can thrive and communities are stronger.

If every dad had access to real paid parental leave, what would change for your family?

21/05/2026

Have you listened to this week’s ? Holly, Clare and Amelia have a genuinely great chat about early education and care and I have thoughts. 🎙️ The bit that really got me: these aren’t “mum issues.” They’re family issues. Full stop. Go give it a listen and tell us what you think. 👇

19/05/2026

What if taking time to raise your kids was the best career decision a dad ever made? Ben Roberson did exactly that.

A Canberra dad of two, he took six months off for each of his children when they were newborns, and then spent two full years as a stay-at-home dad while his wife completed a work posting in England.

It wasn't always easy.

The first twelve months were survival mode… lockdowns, homeschooling a four-year-old, and the relentless grind of being the primary caregiver with no social outlet and no sense of daily progress.

But he kept going.

And what came out the other side was something many parents quietly long for: a deep, earned bond with his kids, a marriage built on genuine partnership, and perhaps most surprisingly a career that didn't just survive his time away, but accelerated.

Within twelve months of returning to work, Ben was promoted.

What he wishes had existed was a system that made this possible for more dads.

This is why 12 months of shared, gender-neutral paid parental leave matters so profoundly.

We are The Parenthood: a national, not-for-profit advocacy group working to make Australia the best place in the world to be a parent. We're fighting for one year of paid parental leave, quality affordable early education and care and family-friendly work. When parents are properly supported, children can thrive and communities are stronger.

If more dads had access to meaningful paid parental leave, how would that change your family's story?

18/05/2026

I just read this interview with from and honestly? He gets it.

He and his wife wanted early education and care for their daughter. They were ready for it. They believed in it. And they were family number 250 on a waitlist. Two hundred and fifty.

They eventually found a place they trusted ... and it shut down within twelve months for failing to meet government standards.

This is the reality for too many Australian families right now.

When there aren’t enough good options - that are affordable, reliable and safe ones - families aren’t genuinely choosing. They’re making do.

That’s exactly why we need government to step up. Not to tell families what to do but to make sure that when families need quality early childhood education and care, it’s actually there.

Accessible. Affordable. And worth trusting.

Matty J put it perfectly: parents shouldn’t have to choose between affordability, accessibility and safety.

At The Parenthood we will keep fighting for every family having early childhood education and care that is available in their community, affordable and high quality.

17/05/2026

Parents: Your experience could shift policy for families who come after you.

Behind closed doors, mums and dads across Australia are making sacrifices… placing children on waitlists that stretch into years, stepping back from careers they worked hard to build, negotiating flexibility with employers who treat it as a favour.

Personal stories break through where statistics cannot. That’s why we’re asking for yours.

Comment or DM 'MYSTORY' to share your experience.

Each voice shared with The Parenthood goes directly into national campaign work: briefing media, strengthening policy submissions and ensuring decision makers cannot look away from the cost of inaction.

We are The Parenthood: a national, not-for-profit advocacy group working to make Australia the best place in the world to be a parent.

We're fighting for paid parental leave, quality affordable early childhood education and care and family-friendly workplaces. When parents are properly supported, children can thrive and communities are stronger.

Does this resonate? Comment or DM ‘MYSTORY’

13/05/2026

Some wins, some losses... the 2026 Federal Budget was a mixed bag for Australian families.

Progress on family support services and fairer single parent payments, but no action on affordable childcare, paid parental leave, or family-friendly workplaces.

We are The Parenthood: fighting for paid parental leave, affordable childcare and family-friendly work, because when parents are supported, children thrive — what did the budget mean for your family?

Address

375 Wickham Tce
Melbourne
4000

Website

http://www.theparenthood.org.au/join

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Parenthood posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to The Parenthood:

Shortcuts

Want your organization to be the top-listed Non Profit Organization in Melbourne?