Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] Thanks for the opportunity to be able to say a few words about the Fair Work Amendment (Improving Unpaid Parental Leave for Parents of Stillborn Babies and Other Measures) Bill 2020 today. This bill is long overdue, but it's welcome. It's one of several legislative changes that the government is making which improve support for parents of stillborn babies. Yesterday I was pleased to also see the passage of the legislation which brought stillborn baby payments to second and subsequent stillbirths into line with those for a first stillbirth. That bill also extended the family tax benefit part A bereavement payment to parents of stillborn babies and of babies who die before their first birthday. Labor has been pressing the government to make those changes and the changes in this bill for some time, so of course we're pleased to support them.

It's taken decades to properly recognise the needs of families of stillborn babies, possibly because of the misunderstanding of the profound impact it has on them. It is a deeply painful experience. The grief of this tragedy, which is borne by 2,200 Australian families every year—or six a day, as Senator Brown mentioned—can be just as profound as the grief experienced after the loss of any other child. I understand this as the parent of a stillborn baby.

It's been 37 years since I gave birth to Timmy, and I still grieve his loss, as does my husband and my family. To try to get some sense of what this experience is like for a birth mother, just imagine that you've been through something like five to nine months of pregnancy. After all the body and hormonal changes from pregnancy, you then go through childbirth, an experience which one-in-three women, according to surveys, find traumatic anyway. After this exhausting journey, instead of the joy of a healthy baby, you're left with a profound feeling of grief, loss and emptiness. Your hopes of being a mother and a father are shattered, your arms are empty and your dreams for the future of your child are absolutely shattered. While you are going through this profound grief, you're also faced with all sorts of heart-wrenching decisions about funeral arrangements and whether to have an autopsy and the expenses that go with all of that. I will say that, 37 years ago, there were no payments available for parents that had stillborn babies, and it was so traumatic for my husband and I to have to deal with all of that. Then there's the decision of having to face whether you return to work too soon after an experience like that.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers report, commissioned by the Stillbirth Foundation, found that stillbirth cost the economy $681 million over the past five years, so it's of little surprise that much of that cost—a bit over 40 per cent—was due to absenteeism and the loss of productivity of parents of stillborn babies who had to return to work before they were ready. As the Stillbirth Foundation stated when they welcomed this legislation:

Parents of stillborn babies are parents too, and six weeks is not enough time to grieve the loss of their babies, let alone recover from all of the physical side effects of pregnancy and birth.

As well as improving unpaid leave provisions for parents of stillborn babies, this legislation, importantly, removes the provision that allows employers to recall employees on unpaid parental leave or cancel any upcoming planned period of unpaid parental leave. This applies to leave for which the employee has given notice if their child is stillborn or dies within the first 24 months of life.

While the changes to unpaid leave are welcome, there is also work to be done to bring paid parental leave for parents with stillborn babies into line with those for other parents. This was a key recommendation of the Senate stillbirth inquiry. A number of private companies have already done this, extending the entitlements to around half a million workers. These companies have recognised the extraordinary impact of stillbirth and have gone above and beyond the minimum standards in supporting their workers through this tragedy. Sadly, there are millions of other workers who, if they experience a stillbirth, will not have access to this entitlement. While those workers can access unpaid leave, they may face the unenviable choice between losing their income and returning to work too early, all while they are still dealing with that incredible grief and trying to make decisions about their baby's funeral. I'm really disappointed that the government did not support our second reading amendment in the House and that they've failed to acknowledge the incredible stress that this puts families experiencing stillbirth under.

I would also like to thank all senators who participated in the stillbirth Senate inquiry. My heartfelt thanks go to my Labor colleagues Senator Keneally and Senator McCarthy, who have been strong advocates for these changes as well. We've also been strongly supported by the shadow minister for health, Mr Chris Bowen. As I said, as the parent of a stillborn baby, I absolutely urge senators to support this bill.