Hi all

I'm from the UK and have moved to Australia when my baby was 4-months old. I'm currently on maternity leave from my job in the UK and am obviously not planning on going back!

I've seen some stuff on the news here about the possible introduction of maternity leave and am I right in thinking that there is no legal entitlement to paid maternity leave in Australia, at all?!

In the UK we currently have a right to 9 months paid (first 6 weeks at 90% of salary and then a statutory maternity rate after that) and an additional 3 months of unpaid leave. You can go on leave at any point from the 15th week before your expected week of confinement and your company can not stop you from doing so or try to force you to stay until later. Also, they have to keep paying you even if you do not intend to return at the end of the leave, or even if you leave the country, and they have to give you a similar job back with the same pay if you do return.

In other EU countries, people even have as much as 12 months or more paid leave and they're bringing this slowly into the UK too.

I'm worried that if I do eventually go back to work (hoping never, but you never know with this credit crunch malarky), and have my next baby, that I will not be able to afford to take time off to spend with them.