An Australian high school teacher, Andrew Read, has lost a Fair Work Commission case in which he sought 16 weeks of paid parental leave to become his newborn's primary carer once his wife returned to work. The Commission found the entitlement, under his workplace agreement, applies only when parental responsibility is specifically granted—through adoption, surrogacy, a permanent care order or similar—rather than to biological parents who automatically hold that responsibility from birth. The case highlights how parental leave provisions designed for non-birth parents can exclude biological fathers even when they take on primary caregiving duties.

Read, a teacher at Mordialloc College since January 2024, had already used four weeks of paid partner leave between January and March 2026 after his child was born, while his wife took leave as primary carer. He then applied for the more generous "other paid parental leave" entitlement, arguing that taking over care once his wife returned to work effectively made him the primary caregiver. Victoria's Department of Education rejected this, and on 4 September Commissioner Oanh Thi Tran upheld the decision, ruling that no one had formally conferred parental responsibility on him since he held it automatically as the biological father—despite acknowledging it was "admirable" for fathers to want such leave.