Parental leave

Members can take parental leave when a new baby or child joins their family on a permanent basis.  

The child does not need to be your resident family for you to get parental leave.

Defence offers paid and unpaid parental leave, and depending on your situation, you may be eligible for both. 

You can get parental leave when:

• your child is born
• you adopt a child
• you have a child join your family under a permanent care order. 

You can start parental leave any time, as long as you take all your parental leave within 66 weeks of:

• having a child  
• adopting a child  
• a child joining your family under a permanent care order.

You can take your parental leave all at once or take it in shorter periods.  

You must take at least one full day at a time. 

You can get up to 66 weeks of leave, made up of:

• paid parental leave
• unpaid parental leave.

You can replace some of your unpaid parental leave with other types of paid leave, such as recreation leave or long service leave.

The 66 weeks is reduced if you or your partner takes maternity leave from:

• the ADF
• another government agency under the Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1973.  

You can take paid parental leave for 40 days (8 weeks). If you take the leave at half pay, you can take 80 days, but you need to take at least 7 consecutive days at a time.

You may also take unpaid parental leave for the remainder of the 66 weeks.  

You may be approved for special paid parental leave if your partner is unable to the primary carer.  

Service couple  

If you’re a service couple When you and your partner are both ADF members. , you can take a combined total of 26 weeks between you for:

• paid parental leave
• paid maternity leave
• special paid parental leave.  
   

You may take up to 66 weeks of unpaid leave.  

This is reduced by any other leave you take, including maternity leave.    

Member who takes maternity leave  

If you take paid maternity leave, you're only eligible for unpaid parental leave.

At the end of your maternity leave, you can take up to a further 14 weeks of unpaid parental leave.  

You must take it within 66 weeks of your child’s birth. 

You’ll get a different amount of leave depending on your situation. 

You can apply for parental leave in the PMKeyS Portal.  

If you’re unable to access PMKeyS, complete the Application for Leave (AF088) form.  

You won’t need supporting evidence if you’re a member who:  

• is pregnant and your maternity leave has been approved
• returns to work from maternity leave
• is part of a service couple and your partner’s maternity leave has been approved.

In other situations, you may need to provide supporting evidence, such as certified copies of:

• confirmation of your partner’s pregnancy from their doctor
• the adoption agreement
• the permanent care order.  

You may be eligible for payments provided by the Australian Government, such as:

• parental leave pay
• newborn upfront payment  
• newborn supplement.

Visit Services Australia to learn more about these payments.  

Getting a government parenting payment won't affect your eligibility for Defence leave payments.  

Apply for parenting payments

You can apply for Services Australia payments through myGov. You may need to add a prefix to your employee ID when you apply.  

If you're a member of the Permanent Forces or a member of the Reserves on a period of continuous full-time service (SERVOP C), you'll need to add ‘ADF’ to the front of your ID.  

If you're a member of the Reserves not on SERVOP C, you'll need to add ‘RES’ to the front of your ID.  

Have or adopt a child  

On other websites

Having a baby (Services Australia)  

On the Defence Protected Network (DPN)

Navy Women (Navy)

Handbook on Pregnancy and Support to Navy Parents (Navy)

Family Information (Army)  

Maternity Support and Working Parents (Air Force)