Currently we have paid parental leave scheme that is available to all employees. It offers a total of 18 weeks of paid leave at minimum wage rates for a parent who was working before the birth. It is available to adoptive parents as well as those having natural births and either the mother or the father can take up the scheme, or they can do it in some combination. The funding comes from the federal government.
This does not do away with other more generous schemes offered by larger firms and government agencies and there is no double dipping allowed.
It's a new scheme, about 3 years old, and our current government is wanting to bring in a new gold plated scheme where women (not sure about men?) will receive 16 weeks leave paid at full usual salary plus all other entitlements. The government will fund it but impose a 1.5% tax levy on larger employers. The upper limit is $150,000 per annum which means that some very well off women will be receiving $75,000 to stay at home to look after their baby. Easy to afford a live-in nanny to help out at that rate, I reckon.
This promised scheme was very popular with young women before the election but is unlikely ever to be implemented. There is quite a lot of opposition to the idea, even from within the current government. Bait and switch, most likely.