The Canberra Liberals moved in the Legislative Assembly this afternoon for the ACT Government to introduce a five days’ paid leave scheme for public sector employees who experience a miscarriage or stillbirth. Similar measures were introduced in NSW earlier this year.

“Miscarriage is a hugely traumatic experience for many people,” said Giulia Jones, Shadow Spokesperson for Health, Mental Health and Wellbeing. “Once it’s happened, you need the opportunity to recover. It is neither a holiday nor a sickness, so it shouldn’t have to come out of sick leave [or] personal leave.”

Mrs Jones made her motion on behalf of Liberal leader Elizabeth Lee, who was recovering from an illness today. Ms Lee went through miscarriage herself, so was highly motivated to sort out the issue, Mrs Jones said.

Bereaved mother Donna Penny believes miscarriage leave is long overdue. She experienced two miscarriages and one stillbirth at term before successfully giving birth; when she had her miscarriages, she was not able to access any leave other than personal leave. When she lost her stillborn son, Patrick, six years ago, she was “luckily” entitled to maternity leave.

“Baby loss is a unique type of bereavement … and it needs its own recognition,” she said. “We don’t give the name ‘personal leave’ to maternity leave after the birth of a live baby. We need something specific for miscarriage and infant loss.”

What difference would five days’ miscarriage leave have made? “It would have meant that I didn’t have to have a tricky conversation with an employer,” she said. “I could have navigated that landscape and make decisions that needed to be made at the time, knowing I had proper leave provisions.”

The government amended Ms Lee’s motion; Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith argued that ACT Public Sector employees were already offered five days’ paid compassionate leave offered for miscarriage, and 18 weeks paid birth leave for stillbirth.

Sixteen enterprise agreements with a new amendment to leave provisions for miscarriage and stillbirth are being balloted for agreement, and will be voted on in December, Ms Stephen-Smith said.

“It misses the point,” Mrs Jones said. “It’s also not yet delivered. So what the government is claiming is already done has actually only been included in a list of things to be bargained for in the next EBA (Enterprise Bargaining Agreement). The government could decide to do this at any time. They don’t have to wait for EBA negotiations, which could be years down the track before they are resolved.”

The Liberals wanted the government to introduce miscarriage leave immediately.

“It probably should have been there for a long time,” Mrs Jones said.

The NSW Government introduced paid leave for public sector employees after a miscarriage in June, while the Commonwealth Government amended the Fair Work Act 2009 to provide specific leave entitlements for miscarriage in September.

“We should follow suit,” Ms Penny said. “We’ve made great strides in recognising this unique type of bereavement, but there’s a long way to go.”

Specialised miscarriage leave would give the bereaved privacy and recognise what they had gone through, Mrs Jones argued.

“Unless someone has been through this experience, or had someone close to them go through the experience, they wouldn’t understand the very many intricacies involved. Some women choose to wait to give birth to a baby that has passed away. That can take some time. Some people prefer to go through the labor experience or need to, under certain medical circumstances. Others will go through a D&C [dilation and curettage] procedure. 

“These are all medicalized and difficult experiences. They should not then have to go to their employer, and go into fine detail about exactly how their miscarriage occurred, and which type of leave it should be under.

“This will not be used by millions of people. This leave will only be used by those who have been through a miscarriage. The government shouldn’t be afraid to instigate it immediately.”

Approximately one in four pregnancies result in miscarriage, Ms Lee’s motion states: 103,300 every year, 282 each day. But losing a child is still a taboo topic; Ms Penny believes the community should talk about it.

“I carried my full-term son, Patrick. I birthed him. I got to know him for nine months. He was anticipated; my family and my friends were all waiting to meet this boy and love him and look after him for the rest of his life.

“And when I didn’t bring a life baby home, for some people and some groups in society, it was as if that previous nine months had been erased.

“There was a reluctance from family and friends to talk about the fact that I had had a baby, birthed a baby, and buried a baby a week after he was born. There was a reluctance to recognize that I was a parent and that my husband was a father. And there was a reluctance to engage with us on a personal level – because how does one open up something so awful? And it is awful. But not saying anything and not recognizing that our child was here albeit briefly is much, much worse.”

Early last month, the Assembly recognised 15 October as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.