Most private sector employees in Northern Territory: 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 NT does matter: if the NT government employs you
NT Public Sector employees under the NTPS 2025 to 2029 Enterprise Agreement. Teachers, doctors, nurses and firefighters have their own agreements.
Partner, paid
1 week
Primary carer, paid
14 weeks
Instrument. Northern Territory Public Sector 2025 to 2029 Enterprise Agreement, clause 90.
Qualifying period. 12 months continuous NTPS service for 1 paid week of partner leave, 5 years for 2 weeks. Nothing is paid under 12 months.
The catch. Paid partner leave depends on how long you have been with the NT public sector, and service elsewhere does not count. If you take over as main carer before the baby is 14 weeks old, part of your unpaid partner leave becomes paid up to that 14 week mark.
- Up to 3 years of partner leave in total, mostly unpaid, after 12 months of service.
- Paid leave can be taken at half pay over twice the time.
- Primary carers get 14 paid weeks, or 18 with 5 years of service.
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 NT 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 26 September 2026. The government pay rate is reviewed each 1 July; the day allowance depends on the birth or adoption date.