The Budget announcement on 12 May 2009 signaled the Government’s intention to introduce a PPL scheme to commence on 1 January 2011. This allowed a period of approximately eighteen months to set in place the arrangements for delivery of the PPL scheme.
3.2.1 Key groups involved in managing PPL
Two key groups were involved in managing the implementation of PPL. The first, the Paid Parental Leave Branch in the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA), was established in July 2009 to oversee the task of preparing for and managing the implementation of the scheme. FaHCSIA had already had significant involvement in the development of the scheme, including advising the Productivity Commission on the interaction of a PPL scheme with the existing system of family payments. A FaHCSIA submission to the Productivity Commission Inquiry in June 2008 provided details of existing FaHCSIA payments to families, including the BB, and of FaHCSIA research findings relevant to the objectives of a PPL scheme (FaHCSIA 2008).
At the same time as the establishment of the PPL Branch within FaHCSIA, a PPL Interdepartmental Committee (IDC) was set up to provide oversight and guidance of the PPL scheme. The PPL IDC played a central role in the implementation of the scheme. It met regularly from July 2009 through to 2011 and had five specific roles:
• To manage the overall implementation of the scheme through ensuring effective governance, project planning and risk management;
• To ensure effective consultations with external stakeholders; • To resolve policy, legal, administrative and service delivery issues;
• To provide oversight of the development and implementation of the communications campaign; and
• To provide oversight of the development and implementation of the evaluation strategy to inform the review of the scheme.
The IDC’s membership was selected to ensure that the development and implementation of the PPL scheme were informed by a wide range of perspectives from across government including service delivery agencies, central agencies and agencies with experience of working with employers. Altogether, twelve agencies were represented on the IDC:
• The Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) (Chair).
• The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) (Deputy Chair).
• The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C). • The Treasury.
• The Department of Finance and Deregulation (DoFD). • The Attorney-General’s Department (AGD).
• The Department of Human Services (DHS) including Centrelink and Medicare Australia.
• The Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA). • The Australian Tax Office (ATO).
• The Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Resources (DIISR). • The Australian Public Service Commission.
35 The IDC established four working groups which took responsibility for key areas of the implementation process and reported to the IDC. These were:
• The Policy and Legislation Working Group;
• The Family Assistance Office (FAO) Implementation Working Group; • The Employer Role Working Group; and
• The Communications and Media Working Group.
These working groups corresponded with the major tasks facing the IDC: translating the government’s broad policy intentions into a set of legislative provisions; developing detailed processes for receiving and assessing claims and making payments; establishing processes relating to the role of employers in making payments; and developing a communications campaign. The FAO Implementation Working Group was chaired by Centrelink and the Communications and Media Working Group was chaired by the FaHCSIA Communications and Media Branch, thus ensuring that these key stakeholders played a lead role in their areas of responsibility.
Central to the work of the IDC was a comprehensive project management plan which was updated prior to each IDC meeting. Detailed working group plans were developed from the overall implementation management plan, and working groups reported against their work plans at each IDC meeting.
3.2.1 Key tasks in implementing PPL
At the commencement of the implementation process, it was decided that the development of the PPL scheme would be subject to the Gateway Review Process. This process is designed to strengthen the oversight and governance of major projects and assist agencies in delivering projects in accordance with stated objectives. The Gateway Review Process entails short, systematic reviews lasting several days undertaken by external reviewers at critical points in project development. Reviews of the development of the PPL scheme were undertaken in July and September 2009, March and September 2010, and September 2012.
An important implementation task was the development and delivery of the communications campaign. Developmental research for the campaign was undertaken in late-2009 and early-2010. As well as informing the communications campaign, this research provided valuable information about employer and employee issues that were somewhat outside the usual scope of FaHCSIA and Centrelink’s areas of expertise. The communications campaign was implemented during the period October 2010-June 2011, and involved close collaboration between the PPL Branch and the Communications and Media Branch of FaHCSIA. In order to ensure consistency of message, there was also a need for close coordination with Centrelink communications. The communications campaign and provision of information to families and employers is discussed at length in section 3.5.
The development of processes for accepting claims, determining eligibility and making payments was a major priority during 2010. The Productivity Commission had recommended that these tasks (with the exception of making payments to long-term employees) be managed through the Department of Human Services, (Centrelink) while the oversight of the development of detailed processes and systems was the responsibility of the FAO Implementation Working Group. The development of service delivery processes and systems functionality is discussed at length in section 3.6. The final set of implementation tasks concerned performance management. In addition to making arrangements for a formal evaluation of the PPL scheme, as recommended by the Productivity Commission, this involved making arrangements for
36 the systematic collection of service data and establishing measurable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the PPL scheme. This also involved reviewing expenditure on the PPL scheme and forecasting future expenditure as part of the annual Budget process.
3.2.2 Implementing DaPP in relation to PPL
The processes for managing the implementation of Dad and Partner Pay (DaPP) mirrored those described above for the PPL scheme, although on a smaller scale. In May 2011 it was announced as part of the Budget that the introduction of the Paid Paternity Leave scheme would be delayed until 1 January 2013. Policy development for this scheme commenced in May 2011 and public consultations were undertaken from September to October 2011. The Paid Parental Leave and Other Legislation
Amendment (Dad and Partner Pay and Other Measures) Bill 2012 was introduced into
Parliament in March 2012 and passed into law in July 2012. A communications campaign around Dad and Partner Pay will be undertaken from October 2012 and amendments made to the PPL Rules to take DaPP into account. The first DaPP claims may be lodged from 1 October 2012 and payments will be made for births and adoptions on or after 1 January 2013.