A member on maternity leave may be eligible for Australian Government parental leave pay.

Visit the Members and Families site to learn more about these payments.

Example: A member completes her first 12 months of qualifying service, she then becomes pregnant with her first child and takes 14 weeks of paid maternity leave and other types of leave which adds up to her 52 weeks of entitled leave. She comes back to full time service for an additional five months before leaving the permanent ADF to join as a Reserve Force member. The member then completes two years of reserve service before applying for maternity leave to have her second child. The member is not entitled to the 14 weeks paid maternity leave as she has broken her full-time service and has not completed a continuous period of 12 months full-time service.

Example: A member's expected date of the birth is 1 June. On 6 January she miscarries. This is 21 weeks before the expected date of birth. This event does not meet the definition of termination. The member has no maternity leave entitlement. The member is absent for a time under fitness for duty arrangements, to recover from the miscarriage.

Example 1: A member falls pregnant while already on unpaid maternity leave. She may be granted a second period of maternity leave.

Example 2: A member falls pregnant while on leave without pay. Section 5.6.31 prevents her from having access to further maternity leave until her leave without pay has ended.

Comparison: Examples 1 and 2 have different outcomes, as unpaid maternity leave and leave without pay are different leave types.

In accordance with Defence Health Manual Volume 2 Part 9 Chapter 3 – Management of pregnant Defence members, as published on 27 October 2017, Command is informed once pregnancy has been confirmed. This information may only be used for the following purposes.