Maternity leave in Australia: 12 months, and how to get 24

Leave and pay are two different claims

Australians routinely say maternity leave when they mean two unrelated things. Unpaid parental leave is an employment entitlement under the Fair Work Act, owed to you by your employer. Parental Leave Pay is a government payment claimed from Services Australia, with its own income test, work test and residence rules. You can have one without the other. Our Australia maternity pay guide covers the payment; this page covers the leave, the service test and the deadlines.

Twelve months, from the National Employment Standards

The Fair Work Commission summarises the entitlement as up to 12 months' unpaid leave and a right to ask for an additional 12 months' unpaid leave. Section 70 of the Fair Work Act puts it in statutory terms: an employee is entitled to 12 months of unpaid parental leave if the leave is associated with the birth of a child of the employee or their spouse or de facto partner, and the employee has or will have responsibility for the care of the child.

The 12-month service test

Section 67 is the gate. An employee other than a casual is not entitled to leave under this Division unless they have, or will have, completed at least 12 months of continuous service with the employer immediately before the relevant date. Casual employees are not shut out: a regular casual employed on that basis for a sequence of periods over at least 12 months qualifies, provided that but for the birth they would have a reasonable expectation of continuing regular and systematic employment.

When the leave can start and must end

Under section 71, birth-related leave for the pregnant employee may start up to six weeks before the expected date of birth, or earlier if the employer agrees, or at any point during the 24-month period beginning on the date of birth. But it must end within that 24-month period. Leave must otherwise be taken in a single continuous block.

Section 73 also allows an employer, in defined circumstances, to require a pregnant employee to take unpaid parental leave within the six weeks before the birth. That is a real power and worth knowing about before you plan to work to 39 weeks.

The 100 flexible days

Section 72A carves out up to 100 days of flexible unpaid parental leave that can be taken in separate periods during the 24 months from the date of birth or placement. These days are not extra. The Act is explicit that flexible unpaid parental leave comes out of your 12-month entitlement under section 70. They are the mechanism for a phased return, a few days a week, or leave spread out across the second year.

Asking for the second 12 months

Section 76 lets an employee who has taken their available parental leave period request an extension of up to a further 12 months immediately following it. The request must be in writing and must be given to the employer at least four weeks before the end of the available parental leave period. That four-week deadline is easy to miss while you are deep in a newborn, and missing it is how people lose the second year.

The total cannot run beyond 24 months after the birth or placement. The Act also builds in a dispute pathway: sections 76A to 76C cover how an employer must respond to a request and how disputes about an extension can be dealt with, including arbitration.

Notice and evidence

Section 74 sets the notice and evidence requirements, including the separate notification needed if you intend to use any of the flexible days. Give notice in writing and keep a copy. The Act builds detailed timing into these provisions, and an employer is entitled to ask for evidence such as a medical certificate confirming the expected date of birth.

Parental Leave Pay is separate, and it grew again in 2026

Services Australia sets the number of Parental Leave Pay days by the child's date of birth or adoption. For a child born or adopted from 1 July 2024 a family can get up to 110 days, or 22 weeks based on a five-day week. From 1 July 2025 that rose to 120 days, or 24 weeks. From 1 July 2026 it is 130 days, or 26 weeks.

The rate is based on the national minimum wage and is set by the financial year in which you take the days, not by when your child was born. For 2025-26 it is $189.62 a day, or $948.10 per five-day week. For 2026-27 it is $200.94 a day, or $1,004.70 per five-day week. That means a leave block spanning 30 June can be paid at two different rates.

If you are partnered, some days are reserved for your partner and cannot be transferred: 10 days for births from 1 July 2024, 15 days from 1 July 2025, and 20 days from 1 July 2026. For births from 1 July 2025 you can take up to 20 days at the same time as each other. Services Australia also notes that a pre-birth claim lodged before 1 July 2026 will show a balance of 120 days, and an extra 10 days are added automatically once proof of birth confirms a birth from 1 July 2026.

What to do, and in what order

Check your continuous service against the section 67 test first. Give your employer the notice and evidence the Act requires. Decide early whether you want any of the 100 flexible days, because they change how you notify. Lodge a pre-birth Parental Leave Pay claim with Services Australia, and register the birth, since registration is part of the eligibility. Then diarise the date four weeks before your leave ends, in case you want the second year.