TAS: Paid maternity leave would help stop fall in births: Combet

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TAS: Paid maternity leave would help stop fall in births: Combet

HOBART, April 19 AAP - Paid maternity leave would help stop Australia's falling birthrate, ACTU secretary Greg Combet said today.

Mr Combet said he supported Sex Discrimination Commissioner Pru Goward's move on theissue and the ball was now in Prime Minister John Howard's court.

Ms Goward yesterday released a discussion paper examining options for a national paidmaternity leave scheme.

Mr Combet said in Hobart it was an important and overdue reform.

"People are scratching their heads wondering why the birth rate is felling," he said.

"It doesn't take too much to work it out. A lot of women are participating in the workplace,a lot of families depend on two incomes coming in, and to make a decision to have a childand be out of the workforce for some time seriously impacts on the ability of a familyto pay its bills."

Mr Combet said Ms Goward had the prime minister's ear on some issues and he hoped shehad on this one.

He said the government must talk to the employers, unions and other interested groupsand come up with a model they could all support.

While the ACTU did not have a fixed view on a model, he noted that overseas a lot ofgovernments funded or part-funded maternity leave.

AAP dw/mg/sb

KEYWORD: MATERNITY COMBET