Parents were generally enthusiastic about the new flexible design of paid parental leave that will allow the time to be used in either weekly blocks, or units of one day. However, they were unsure how it would work, suggesting this needs to be administered in a way that supports ‘genuine’ flexibility. Parents liked the way this new design feature will support diversity of family type and work situations.

Mothers saw opportunities to use the flexibility options provided in the new scheme when transitioning back to work, allowing them to stay connected to the workforce.

I think just having the choice is really important. Yeah. I think it just hasn’t been on the table before, so I still think I would have taken the first year off at least with the first child, but I don’t think in the future I will want to do that. I think getting a bit of time with the child is really important, but maybe a year is a bit long, so being able to share that would be great. (Sarah, middle income)

I think in the initial days and weeks, I think you need that full-time off. But maybe towards the end when you’re transitioning back to work it might be a bit easier to do a 4-day week instead of 5. That has been beneficial. But yeah, having a baby and being the birthing parent, I think you need a good, solid chunk of time. (Grace, same sex couple)

[The flexibility] would definitely help just so that when one say goes back to work, you are not really stressing about, “Oh, I need to work that extra day or so, because you don’t have the flexibility. But obviously with that flexibility, if I could save about 3 days and then use one day as one of the flexible days or things like that, it’ll be great because then that helps out financially and also allows me to be at home with an extra day there with my son or my future child or whatever the case is. (Isabella, middle income, CALD)

That is amazing. That’s saying that you could just go to work, say, 4 days and get paid just a little bit less just on one day […] I think that’s pretty good. I’m impressed that they’ve made it a lot more flexible and that they’ve obviously increased the time. So all steps in the right direction. (Amelia, high income, CALD)

Parents appreciated the way the new system challenges the idea that only mothers require time off or flexibility at the birth of a child and encourages fathers to take on a more equal caring role. Fathers also saw opportunities for increased care and their ability to access paid parental leave while limiting the impact on household income.

That would work out. Yeah, let’s say if 4 days, I got paid normal wages, whatever my work pays, and then the one day was government minimum wages, yeah, that would work out. (Kabir, high income, CALD)

I think it [the flexibility] would be helpful, particularly with [Peter’s] work, which can be a bit more seasonal, […] particularly as a sole trader, as self-employed. (Sarah, middle income)

Recognition by parents that not all families have the same needs or preferences and that in some cases the birthing parent would not be the primary carer meant the flexible design was appreciated and would help to support diverse caring arrangements.

[S]ome birthing parents are gearing to go back to work as soon as they can. It works both ways. Sometimes the primary caregiver isn’t the person who gave birth, and the birthing parent is ready to go back to work as soon as possible. So, I guess it just depends on the situation. (Amy, same sex couple)

There is obviously plenty of couples that […] either don’t or can’t breastfeed, and so then […] they’re obviously way more flexible ... [and] the dad [can] do more of the parenting role. But obviously for the parents who […] or the moms who breastfeed […] [they] don’t have that flexibility. But if the scenario allows you to be flexible, then that’s probably a good thing. (Jack, low income)

Breastfeeding was cited as the main barrier to more flexible use of paid parental leave with some parents not expecting they would be in a position to exchange full-time care by one parent (understood to be the mother) in the first 26 weeks for more father care or flexible care options (e.g., 1 day a week) later in the baby’s life.

The fact that [Lucy] was breastfeeding … Hopefully she can do it with the next kid too. But it probably makes a decision for us. If she’s breastfeeding, she can’t work. (Jack, low income)

What if, for example, I shared say half of it with [Andy] and then, I don’t know, the other half I have to go back to work. Is [Andy] going to breastfeed my child? What if I’m breastfeeding? (Isabella, middle income, CALD)

Parent interest in the opportunities presented by the new flexible scheme were contingent on how flexible use was administered. Parents want to be able to change the allocation of paid parental leave over time and between parents in real time, as required, and in response to changing work, health and family needs that may emerge over the first 2 years of the child’s life.

Parents appreciated the new flexibility as they were generally wary of a blanket or one-size-fits- all policy that does not account for the unique circumstances of different parents and households. In particular, parents did not want their leave arrangements to be ‘locked in’ when their needs could change after the baby arrives. It was widely agreed that ‘different families have different needs’ and that parents should be able to adjust and redistribute parental leave over the 2-year period. Parents want to be able to ‘shuffle’ paid parental leave around to allow a more efficient and equal distribution of work and care and accommodate individual and household preferences.

I would say being able to dictate what suits us is massively beneficial … You know, we’ve sometimes talked about whether she’s the birthing parent or I am, maybe the other one wants to be the primary caregiver. So maybe even if [Grace] gives birth, I might be the stay-at-home parent. We just don’t know what each situation is going to make for us. So, I think this kind of more flexible arrangement is really beneficial and I think it’s going to be great for a lot of families. (Amy, same sex couple)

I think for our situation, the best scheme would be flexibility on when you started the paid parental leave. Flexibility on who can take it and when and being able to shuffle around … I think our situation particularly, I don’t think the forced block of leave for the male is as relevant … But that’s how it would work for us. (Sarah, middle income)

… it’d be useful to move it around once we’ve started to not have it locked in, like I mentioned before because we work with a small number of clients, but if we happen to get three or four extra ones and suddenly my workload went up, I can either turn that work down or I could chat to [Sarah] and say, “Do you want to take more leave? Take some of my leave back, that 18 weeks because I can do all this extra work.” And we can discuss it. So yeah. It would suck if we were locked in … Because you also don’t know what it’s like to be a parent. That’s the other thing, you just have no idea what your kid’s going to be like. What you’re going to want to do or who’s going to want to have leave. (Peter, middle income)

That’s (flexibility) really good because it might be the situation where it’s reversed and the mum needs to return back to work, she’s got a high-profile job and the dad can stay home caring more. I think it’s really good. Different families have different needs. (Max, high income)