Two councillors at a north-west Queensland council have contested a paid parental leave policy because they feel it is an added burden on ratepayers and that "people could take advantage" of it.

Key points: Two Cloncurry councillors declare "they do not believe in paid parental leave"

Two Cloncurry councillors declare "they do not believe in paid parental leave" Councillor Damien McGee argues parental leave should be paid for by the Federal Government

Councillor Damien McGee argues parental leave should be paid for by the Federal Government Deputy Mayor Dane Swalling agrees, saying it is an added burden on ratepayers

The policy, which was the first of its kind for the Cloncurry Shire Council, was passed by three of the five sitting councillors at its meeting last month.

It entitles new mothers to 14 weeks of paid leave after giving birth, and fathers three days' pay, before returning to their role with the council.

The ABC understands a workshop was held to discuss the paid parental policy prior to the council's ordinary meeting, where councillors engaged in a heated debate on the topic.

Councillor Damien McGee and Deputy Mayor Dane Swalling requested their votes be recorded against the motion last week, "as they do not believe in paid parental leave", according to the council minutes.

Federal Government should bear the cost

Councillor McGee said paid parental leave should be funded by the Federal Government and not borne by council ratepayers.

Councillor McGee says paid parental leave should be funded by the Federal Government, not ratepayers. ( Supplied: Cloncurry Shire Council )

"I think both the male and the female should be able to have leave for having kids — it's the paid parental leave that I was against and I believe it should have been a federally funded initiative, rather than a burden on the Cloncurry ratepayer," Councillor McGee said.

He said the council's paid parental leave policy could be discriminatory unless rolled out across Australia under the Federal Government.

"Say for example that every business owner in Australia had to pay for paid parental leave, then it would create a demographic where employers wouldn't be looking for women under 40," he said.

"That's not the case here — but it creates a dangerous precedence that women under 40 wouldn't make say the interview round — they wouldn't go to the next stage of the interview for an employer."

"If it was federally funded by the Government, then it wouldn't affect that at the end of the day."

'People could take advantage'

Councillor McGee said his biggest concern was "people could take advantage" of the policy and believed it would not encourage people to move to the region.

"It was explained to us that it was designed to recruit and retain staff members in our Cloncurry Shire, which I don't see that as being a fact," he said.

"Because you could work effectively for council for 12 months, go on maternity leave, get paid for 14 weeks at full pay and then leave and not come back, so you're really not gaining or retaining employees by it.

"To retain employees, you pay them more at the start to keep them here and give them good working conditions — I don't see the parental leave as that.'

"It's sort of set up that people could take advantage of it and that was my concern."

Councillor McGee said 14 weeks of parental leave would be a huge impost on ratepayers.

"We try to limit rate increases and if it comes to the stage where you've got to hire two or three employees to replace two or three and all of a sudden your budget goes up by $200,000, that money's got to reimburse through rates increase, which we don't want," he said.

Support for unpaid leave

Deputy Mayor Dane Swalling said he also voted against the paid parental leave policy due to the added burden on ratepayers, agreeing that it should be a federally funded initiative.

Deputy Mayor Swalling is happy for council employees to have time off without pay as parental leave. ( Supplied: Cloncurry Shire Council )

"I'm happy for employees of council to have say 12 months off without pay as … parental leave," Councillor Swalling said.

"What was passed at the meeting the other day was 14 weeks' pay for paid parental leave and I'm not happy for that, purely for the fact that that cost will end up being borne by the ratepayers

Policy is an 'investment in the community'

Mayor Greg Campbell said he had been pushing for the policy for some time because it would help attract people to live and work in the shire.

"I go out and I promote Cloncurry to especially the mines — we want to cherry-pick young couples and young families to move to town and if we want to lead by example, we had to have a parental leave policy of our own," Councillor Campbell said.

Councillor Campbell says he views the policy as an investment in the community. ( Supplied: Cloncurry Shire Council )

"If council offers a good support package for families, it's got to help attract people — if the husband or the partner gets a job in the mine and the wife wants her career, they can still have their family knowing that they're supported by a family-friendly employer.

Councillor Campbell said he viewed the policy as an investment in the community.

"Over the last 10 years, we might have had three or four cases where we would have actually used maternity leave," Councillor Campbell said.

"For what we can offer the women in the community to show that council's a supportive employer, you know the cost is going to be minimal."