The Australian government's statutory paid parental leave scheme should be taxpayer-funded, and should provide paid postnatal leave for a total of 18 weeks that can be shared by eligible parents, at the adult federal minimum wage, according to this report.

All those employed with a reasonable degree of attachment to the labour force should be eligible, including the self-employed, contractors and casual employees.

A broad range of family types should be eligible, including conventional couples, lone parents, non-familial adoptive parents, same sex couples, and non-parental primary carers in exceptional cases, so long as they meet the employment test.

Employers should participate in the scheme by:

• acting as paymasters where the employee had sufficient workplace tenure, with the government prepaying employers by instalment to avoid cash flow impacts

• providing superannuation contributions for long-term eligible employees, though this measure should be deferred for at least three years and reviewed at that time.

A less ambitious version of this scheme was announced in the 2009-10 federal budget.