Hi Riss,

Maternity leave is changing soon in Australia. Your employer has to give you 12 months of unpaid leave and offer you the same or equivalent position back upon your return. Currently we have the baby bonus at the moment put it is paid in 13 fortnightly installments of just under $400. There are also offer family benefits available which are means tested, but I'm not all that familiar with them. If you have a look at the centrelink website you'll probably be able to get a good idea of what you may be eligible for.

In 2010 (I think) the government baby bonus will be changed to be a maternity payment which will be equivalent to the minimum wage and paid for 16 weeks I think. Your employer will also have to make super contributions on your behalf, and may offer you paid maternity leave on top of the government one.

Currently not many employers offer paid maternity leave, it's mainly employees in government services that get it. But there is a big push here now and more and more private companies are starting to develop policies.

I was able to negotiate a package with my employer for my leave, but it was done on an individual basis and I really had to push for it. To answer your questions:

*what your work offers
I was given 8 weeks at full maternity pay. I had annual leave and long service leave owing to me. So all up I got about 20 weeks of full pay which I have elected to be spread over 52 weeks. Being in a lower tax bracket I get a little under half of what my take home pay was.

*how long you have to be with you company to qualify
I've been there 10 years, it's a smaller company and my long service allowed me to negotiate this, I don't think that they have ever done more than a week or two of paid leave before. I really had to push and lobby for it though.

*what kind on industry you work in
Advertising

*how many days holiday you get per year
4 weeks (20 days). This is standard in Australia and protected by law.

*Government - what financial support do they provide
See above

Hope this helps. I think overall the situation is improving here in Australia, but we still have a long way to go. By the sound of things you've got a pretty good option there in the UK. Like Poppyfairy said, the cost of living here is really high these days, but if you're living in London you're probably used to that.