[Australia] - Dad and Partner Pay - Australian Federal Government Benefits for Gay Dads

Dad and Baby Bonding

Dads and partners play an important role in the vital early months of their child’s life. To help dads and partners take time off from work, Dad and Partner Pay will be available to eligible working dads or partners who care for a child born or adopted from 1 January 2013.

It is a new payment under the Australian Government’s Paid Parental Leave scheme, providing up to two weeks of Government-funded pay at the rate of the National Minimum Wage (currently about $606 per week before tax).

A strong relationship between dad and baby provides an excellent start to healthy social, emotional and cognitive development. That’s why it’s so important that dads take some time off work, to bond with their new baby and to share the caring responsibility and support mothers or partners from the very beginning. Dad and partner Pay helps to provide financial support for dads and partners to be able to take time off from work to do so.

Dads can bond with their newborn through eye contact, cuddling, talking and smiling.  Babies love to hear the sound of voices, so talking, reading or singing to a newborn also helps strengthen the bond between parent and child.[1]

Dads or partners taking some time off work also have more opportunity to share and learn from the experiences of early parenting: exploring their baby’s moods and needs, establishing routines, and enjoying their emerging personality.

Working dads or partners, including those adopting and parents in same-sex partners, may be eligible for Dad and Partner Pay. For more information about the payment and eligibility, go to www.australia.gov.au/dadandpartnerpay

Introduction to Dad and Partner Pay 

Dad and Partner Pay provides eligible working dads or partners with financial support to be able to take time off work to bond in the vital early months of their baby’s life. An extension of the Australian Government’s Paid Parental Leave scheme, this new entitlement adds to the options available to support families to balance work and family commitments. 

Dad and Partner Pay is available to eligible working dads or partners (including adopting parents and same--‐sex partners) who care for a child born or adopted from 1 January 2013. Claims can be lodged up to three months before the expected date of birth or adoption. First claims can be lodged from 1 October 2012. 

Dads or partners eligible for Dad and Partner Pay will apply to and be paid directly by Centrelink. To lodge a claim, a dad or partner may register for Centrelink Online services at www.humanservices.gov.au, and complete an online claim, or call Centrelink on 136 150 to request a paper claim form. Claiming early, before the birth or adoption, and lodging proof of birth or entry into care as soon as possible, helps to avoid payment delays. 

Eligible dads or partners will receive up to two weeks of Government--‐funded pay at the rate of the National Minimum Wage (currently about $606 per week before tax) that can be taken anytime in the first year following birth or adoption. 

Eligibility

Full--‐time, part--‐time, casual, contract, seasonal and self--‐employed workers (including those who work in a family business) may be eligible. 

In order to be eligible, dads or partners will also need to: 

•           be caring for a child born or adopted from 1 January 2013 

•           be an Australian resident 

•           have worked for at least 10 of the 13 months prior to the start date of their Dad and Partner Pay period 

•           have worked for at least 330 hours in that 10 month period (just over one day a week), with no more than an eight week gap between consecutive two working days 

•           have an individual adjusted taxable income of $150,000 or less in the previous financial year 

•           be on unpaid leave or not working during the Dad and Partner Pay period. 

In addition to Dad and Partner Pay, families may be eligible for other family assistance such as Paid Parental Leave or Baby Bonus, and Family Tax Benefit. 

Claims must be lodged by the dad or partner who is eligible to receive the payment. 

Leave arrangements 

To be eligible for Dad and Partner Pay, dads or partners must be on unpaid leave from their employer or not working during their two--‐week Dad and Partner Pay period. Dads and partners will need to discuss and agree on unpaid leave arrangements directly with their employer. Dad and Partner Pay can be taken before or after employer--‐funded paid leave but cannot be taken at the same time the employee is taking paid leave. 

Dad and Partner Pay does not change any existing entitlements to unpaid parental leave under a current workplace agreement or law, and it doesn’t change your entitlement to unpaid parental leave under the National Employment Standards. Parents who have worked continuously for their employer for 12 months or more prior to the birth or adoption have an entitlement to up to 12 months of unpaid parental leave, under the National Employment Standards, with the option of extending that time by up to 12 months if their employer agrees. If both parents are eligible, they can take three weeks of their unpaid parental leave at the same time starting immediately after the birth, or by agreement with their employer, within the period up to six weeks after the birth. 

Parents who have worked for their employer for less than 12 months may negotiate unpaid parental leave with their employer. For more information about unpaid parental leave under the National Employment Standards, visit www.fairwork.gov.au 

More detailed information is available at www.australia.gov.au/dadandpartnerpay. 

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[Australia] - Green Left - Tassie Equal Marriage Bill Goes Down, But Campaign Vows to Fight On

Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings
and Greens leader Nick McKim

Tasmania's upper house voted against equal marriage on September 26. The bill, co-sponsored by Labor Premier Lara Giddings and Greens deputy Nick McKim, passed the lower house on August 30.

But after a two-day debate, eight of the upper house's 15 MLCs voted against the bill, mostly fearing a High Court challenge and claiming that it was a federal and not a state issue.

Serious homophobia was also in play. Former Supreme Court chief justice William Cox said allowing same-sex couples to marry could also lead to same-sex surrogacy and adoption.

Same-sex surrogacy was made legal the week before the equal marriage bill. Same-sex adoption has been legal since 2003.

Tasmanian gay rights campaigner Rodney Croome said the idea of a High Court challenge had been highly overstated.

Croome said on October 8 that Australian Family Association lawyer Neville Rochow told Tasmanian politicians that an unsuccessful High Court challenge could cost the government up to $1.25 million. The advice “included a hypothetical case taken by a religious celebrant who refused to celebrate a same-sex marriage, as well as the costs of all the interveners in such a case.”

Under the Tasmanian equal marriage bill, no church or priest could be forced to marry anyone they didn’t want to. They can choose to marry or not marry individually.

Croome said the maximum High Court loss would be tens of thousands of dollars instead, a price worth paying considering the amount of queer couples who said they would travel to Tasmania to get married should the bill pass.

The shame the Tasmanian parliament should be feeling at voting down a bill that would make people of all sexual orientations equal in the eyes of the law, goes hand in hand with an awful history of gay rights abuses.

Tasmania finally legalised same-sex relationships in 1997, the last Australian state to do so. Just 15 years ago, being gay could be “punished” with a prison sentence.

The fact that so soon after that shameful history, the Tasmanian parliament had the opportunity to make same-sex marriage legal speaks volumes to the strength of queer rights activists in Tasmania and Australia.

The struggle for queer equality has been hard and incredibly successful. The issues and prejudice the queer community face have been pushed to the forefront of Australian conscience, thanks to a brilliant campaign that has seen huge advances in the past decade.

But homophobia remains and carries terrible costs. Same-sex attracted youth account for one-third of young people sleeping on the streets on any given night.

Depression and suicide are two to three times more likely for queer youth than straight young people.

Many are discriminated against and bullied because of their sexuality and more than 70% of this bullying goes on in schools.

There is still a lot of work to be done to rid society of homophobia.

The importance of mass mobilisation in stopping legal and social prejudice towards queer people has been made evident by the Tasmanian parliament.

Most people in Tasmania and Australia want equal marriage, yet the upper house still voted the equal marriage bill down, clearly showing an ability to completely ignore what a community wants or needs.

Young people make up a huge reason for why this campaign has come so far, and it is up to us to get active and mobilise, and demand of those in parliament that we will not be ignored, nor will the issues of the queer community.

[Source: Original Article]

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[Australia] - QNews - PFLAG launches a new resource for Parents - by Toby Longhurst

News from PFLAG on a wonderful initiative to support parents when their child comes out to them.  Their motto "Keeping Families United" is spot on!

PFLAG  is a fantastic support group that provides emotional support to parents coming to terms with loved ones identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.  (Parents & Friends’ of Lesbians & Gays)

PFLAG have released a new resource kit that helps parents understand their kids when they are coming out which is especially helpful  for parents  not ready to speak to others or for those living in regional and rural areas with limited access to support.  PFLAGS' coming out kit includes a book written by Shelley Argent which is now part of PFLAG resources and a DVD of parent’s  stories including  parents struggling with homophobia, suicide, religious issues plus general concerns that many parents deal with, while coming to terms with their loved one “coming out”.

PFLAG's motto is “keeping families united” and they hope that this new resource will do just that, by removing the “fear factor” and hastening understanding and support for LGBT loved ones.  The resource is FREE and accessible by contacting  PLAG via www.pflagbrisbane.org.au  or phone one of the mums Shelley Argent  on 0409 363 335 or email admin@qnews.com.au and ask for one to be posted out to you.

[Source: Original Article]

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[Australia] - Gay News Network - Gay Dads and Stereotypes - Tim Hunter

House Husbands

Tim Hunter from GNN has a look at Gay Dads and Stereotypes in the Media and talks about one of my favorite shows of the moment, House Husbands!

While stereotypes still exist, there's now more light and shade in the way gays and lesbians are portrayed on primetime television, observes Tim Hunter.

A recent report in the US from GLAAD has highlighted the fact that we have more gay and lesbian characters on TV than ever before. Glee, returning to our screens this week, is singled out as the leader of the network pack, while True Blood dominates their cable channels. Yes, the gays are moving away from just being tokenistic ciphers. But what about here in Australia? How is gay representation on our commercial networks faring?

Starting with US shows broadcasting here, you can’t go past Modern Family. Four seasons in, and this lovable dysfunctional extended family, including gay couple Mitch (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and their daughter Lily, is an important part of Ten’s early evening scheduling; new episodes are screening on Sunday nights while repeats screen weeknights. And as camp as Cam is, and regardless of Mitch’s endless list of issues, this very affectionately presented gay family is both progressive and helps ‘normalise’ their lives for a wider audience.


Also screening Sunday nights on Ten, immediately after Modern Family, is the sitcom The New Normal. David (Justin Bartha) and Bryan (Andrew Rannells) are your average white, middle class gay couple living in LA, but they’ve decided to have a baby using a surrogate, Goldie (Georgia King). While the premise of the show, from Glee creator Ryan Murphy, that non-traditional family units are the ‘new normal’ is laudable, Bryan is a walking – nay, mincing cliché, complete with an over-styled fashion sense and a scriptwriter feeding him witty one-liners.

That’s not to say these stereotypes don’t exist – that’s why they’re stereotypes – but aside from dealing with issues of prejudice and acceptance, it’s Ellen Barkin’s barb-tongued grandmother of Goldie that’s going to steal the show.

Back on home soil, and still on Sunday nights, is House Husbands on Nine. It’s about four hapless stay-at-home dads, played by Gary Sweet, Rhys Muldoon, Firass Dinari and Gyton Grantley, struggling with working mums, custody battles and gay parenting. Kane (Grantley) is the co-parent of six-year-old Stella, the orphaned niece of his partner Tom (Tim Campbell).

What’s refreshing here is the deliberate non-issue of their sexuality and circumstances. It’s not obvious they’re a couple until the second episode, and the word gay is not even used until episode four. Rather than an effort to downplay their sexuality, it’s more about showing that it really doesn’t matter. Kane and Tom are just regular guys who happen to be gay: Kane has his own pie business that he runs from home as he cares for Stella, and Tom is a fireman which is why he isn’t the primary care-giver.

There was however a lovely scene in hospital, where Tom asks Stella, on her way to surgery, to stop calling him Uncle Tom, and call him – and Kane – Dad instead. For a very mainstream local show on a notoriously conservative network, House Husbands presents a fuss-free and even-handed depiction of gay parenting.

A bit more fluffy is the gay character Jonathan (Damien Bodie) in Winners & Losers. He’s a likeable but stereotypical gay man, confidante to Frances (Virginia Gay), and as such is well groomed, fashionably dressed, always in party mode, and ready with advice or comfort. In the first season, he was fairly one-dimensional, more of a caricature or cipher than a real character, but this season, he’s been fleshed out a bit, with a new boyfriend, Rhys (Nick Simpson-Deeks), dealing with Public Displays of Affection, and both victims of a homophobic bashing from a nightclub bouncer, and Rhys’ coming out to, and off-screen rejection from his parents.

None of this is groundbreaking stuff, but it’s a step in the right direction. Oh, and for the girls, Frances enjoyed kissing a bisexual girl, which made her wonder if she was a lesbian. It was explained away fairly quickly as a ‘buddy crush’.

And just a quick word about I Will Survive, Ten’s less-than-successful talent show based on a road trip to Alice Springs to find a Triple Threat performer to take the lead in the musical version of The Adventures of Priscilla on Broadway. It’s a shame that it hasn’t rated better than it has, because there’s some good talent there, and it does a lot to deconstruct Australian masculinity. The good mix of straight men and gay men get on well together, and show emotion and affection for each other easily, regardless of sexuality. And two out of three of the finalists are gay. Go Tom.

So where does that leave us? Well, clearly, gay couples – and parents – are much more easily accepted and included on TV now; there have been no outraged protests about their inclusion in House Husbands. And while the stereotypes still persist, at least there’s more light and shade – and positive role models – than there was even ten years ago. Here’s to more in the next ten.

[Source: Original Article]

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[Australia] - Gay News Network - Rainbow Families Will Soon Be 'Appy - Lana Wilson

Was recently interviewed for GNN on the Rainbow Family Finder phone app that is soon to launch.  It sounds like a wonderful idea and looking forward to taking it for a spin!

Rainbow Families and LGBT parents around the globe may soon be able to search and connect on a whole new level, due to a specifically designed smart phone app.

The ‘Rainbow Family Finder’ app, which is expected to launch within weeks, allows families and single parents to create profiles and make friend requests to other rainbow families within a 50 kilometre radius to their area, using GPS technology. 

The app was initiated by Sydney-based lesbian mums, Alicia Cavanagh and Shanel Hennessey, after their 8 year-old daughter met children from another rainbow family during a trip to Fiji.

 “We are very excited about the release and the interest we have attracted from all over the world,” Cavanagh said.

“Our difficulty has been that, although there are many couples that we associate with, none of them are yet to experience having children and the issues that come along with raising them.”

“This app will simply allow us, and the many other potential users, to connect with like minded families for advice, experiences and friendship,” she said.

Rodney Chiang-Cruise of support group Gay Dads Australia welcomed the idea and thinks the app will be particularly useful to rainbow families living in regional and rural areas. 

“Isolation for GLBTI people is always a problem, and when raising children, trying to deal with the isolation is just another thing to add to a very heavy work load,” he said.

“As most of us now have smart phones, I think rainbow families will really appreciate this opportunity.”

Alicia and Shanel both hope to increase the app’s features after the launch, to include a search tab that will find LGBT events within the user’s radius.

The app is yet to be submitted to Apple and Android for approval.

Rainbow Family Finder Website

[Source: Original Article]

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[Australia] - NewsMail - Same-sex parents share their joy

Chantal Turner & Abigail Pratt with
their baby, Christine Pratt

A wonderful story from Australia on two very proud mums.  Congratulations!

IF YOU asked new parents Christine Pratt and Chantal Turner how they felt about the birth of their first child Abigail on October 8, the word "proud" would sing out from every sentence.

When the couple first met, children were a priority for both Christine and Chantal.

"We've been together for six years now and we've both wanted kids from the dot," Miss Pratt said.

"When I first came out, I organised gay meet and greets," she said.

"Word got out and Chantal came to one of those meetings and we got married (had a commitment ceremony) a year later."

The couple said it took time to organise having a family, because they needed to know any potential donor would be happy to provide them with more than one child.

In the end, it was a close male friend who gave Christine and Chantal the chance to start their tribe.

"We got a friend of ours to donate for us and we just did artificial insemination," Miss Pratt said.

"He will know Abigail and Abigail will know him and he will donate for the next one."

Miss Pratt said with plans for her partner Chantal to carry the next pregnancy, it would give their children a blood link.

"If I haven't given birth to both of them, at least they've got siblings," she said.

Little Abigail makes up part of the tiny, but steadily growing 0.1% of young children growing up with same-sex parents in Australia.


According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, just over one in 10 same-sex couples have children of any age living with them.

Miss Pratt said society had become more diverse in the last decade, but it was still a challenge for male same-sex couples to raise families without discrimination.

"For us girls it's a lot easier to have kids and be out in public and hold hands and give a peck on the cheek," she said.

"Society doesn't see it as okay for two guys to raise a family."

But the new mum said she looked forward to people becoming more tolerant.

"Society is slowly becoming more accepting - Bundaberg now is a lot more open-minded than it was 10 years ago," she said.

Miss Pratt said it shouldn't matter if children were raised by step-parents, single parents or gay parents, as long as they were loved.

"At the very end of the day, you can look after a kid or you can't," Miss Pratt said.

"She's no different to any other child born in a nuclear family."

Candice and Zoe's story 

Like Christine Pratt and Chantal Turner, Candice Blake and Zoe Maidment knew they wanted to start a family.

The couple gave birth to their first child and son, Sailor, on October 1.

After more than three years together and with a happy home set up, Ms Maidment said she and her partner Candice knew it was time to add a bouncing new addition to their lives.

"We've been lucky having good support from our family and friends," Ms Maidment said.

But she said prejudices were still present in society.

"We try not to think about what other people are saying," she said.

"We love him and we're going to make sure he has the best life he can."

The couple said they would like to have more children in the future, after conceiving Sailor with the help of a fertility clinic.

"It was awesome, it was a quick labour and Candice did a great job," she said.

"We're just super happy."

Ms Maidment said it was important for people in same-sex relationships to be themselves.

"It's okay to be who you are," she said.

"If (starting a family) is something you want, don't not do it."

[Source: Original Article]

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[Northern Ireland] - The NZ Herald - Belfast Judge: Gay,unmarried couples can adopt - Associated Press

Wonderful news out of an unlikely place!

Unmarried and same-sex couples in Northern Ireland should be allowed to adopt children, a Belfast judge has ruled, rejecting a 1987 adoption law that discriminates against both groups.

Gay rights activists praised the ruling in favour of a lawsuit pursued by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. But Health Minister Edwin Poots, an evangelical Protestant opposed to gay partnerships, said the government would appeal.

"It is my intention to urgently appeal this judgment and I am taking this action with a heavy heart," said Poots, who called the ruling against the best interests of children.

Belfast High Court Justice Seamus Treacy ruled the law clearly violated European human rights laws on privacy and discrimination.

Other parts of the United Kingdom already permit gay and unmarried heterosexual couples to adopt children. But Northern Ireland's law restricts applicants to married couples and single adults, including gays.


Northern Ireland's chief commissioner for human rights, Michael O'Flaherty, said the successful lawsuit "sought to protect the best interests of the child. Given the high numbers of children in care, who need a family in Northern Ireland, the importance of this case in widening the pool of prospective parents cannot be overstated".

More than 2,500 children in Northern Ireland are in state care awaiting adoption.

John O'Doherty, director of a Northern Ireland gay rights group called the Rainbow Project, denounced the government plans to appeal the judgment as "wasting public money on a fool's errand".

He accused Poots of "allowing his personal prejudices to influence his public responsibilities".

Northern Ireland, like the rest of the UK, legalised civil partnerships for gay people in 2005. Two years later, Britain devolved most government powers to a cross-community government of British Protestants and Irish Catholics, most of them religious conservatives.

[Source: Original Article]

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