Most private sector employees in New South Wales: national rules
Most private sector employees use the national unpaid parental leave rules. Services Australia runs the separate government payment scheme. Your employer's policy can provide additional paid leave.
- Unpaid leave. Up to 12 months, extendable to 24 with your employer's agreement, after 12 months continuous service. Up to 130 days of it can be taken one day at a time.
- Parental Leave Pay. $200.94 a day before tax in 2026-27. 130 days for the family for babies born on or after 1 July 2026, 20 reserved for the partner.
- Notice. Tell your employer in writing at least 10 weeks before your leave starts.
- Reserved for the partner, 20
- Reserved for the birth parent, 20
- To share, 90
Where NSW does matter: if the NSW government employs you
Eligible NSW Government sector employees, for babies born on or after 1 October 2022. Gender neutral: the same entitlement for either parent.
Partner, paid
14 weeks
Plus up to
2 weeks
Instrument. NSW Government sector paid parental leave scheme (Premier's Memorandum M2022-08).
Qualifying period. 40 weeks continuous service at the expected date of birth, adoption, surrogacy or placement.
The extra weeks. Two weeks bonus leave where paid parental leave is shared more equally between partners. Automatic for single parents and where your partner has no employer-paid entitlement.
The catch. It is 14 weeks for each parent who works for the NSW Government, not 14 weeks per family. If you both do, you both get it.
- Take it within the first 24 months from the date of birth.
This is paid by your employer and sits on top of Parental Leave Pay. You can usually take both, the paid weeks from the department and the government days, back to back or overlapping, within the rules of each.
What people in NSW get wrong
- Treating government Parental Leave Pay, unpaid leave from work and an employer's paid policy as a single entitlement.
- Assuming the birth parent can take all 130 paid days. 20 are reserved for the partner and are lost if unused.
- Missing the 10 week written notice, then finding the employer can push back on the dates.
Read more about unpaid parental leave and government pay rates.
Public sector detail source checked 11 September 2026. The government pay rate is reviewed each 1 July; the day allowance depends on the birth or adoption date.