It’s little wonder the Australian people, not to mention his own Coalition colleagues, are utterly confused about Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s sham paid parental leave scheme funded by his great big new tax on business.
As soon as his International Women’s Day thought bubble hit the airwaves, there was instant disbelief.
After all, this was the man who, as Workplace Relations Minister, declared that a paid parental leave scheme would only happen over his government’s “dead body.” And who then proceeded to kill off the paid maternity leave proposal put forward by the then Sex Discrimination Commissioner.
For 12 years in government, the Coalition refused to deliver a paid parental leave scheme.
But last Monday’s announcement was only the start of the confusion. In the days following, the Coalition proposal was positively chameleon-like in its ability to change its colours. And the Opposition Leader leopard-like as he twisted and turned in his effort to convince the Australian people that he had changed his spots.
First, there was his confusion over who would be eligible. The first figure he plucked from the air was 170,000, before a quick revision via a press release to align with the work test proposed by the Government – a change of around 25,000.
And then the $3.7 billion (that’s the cost of the Abbott plan) question: where’s the money coming from, which only resulted in even more confusion.
On the 8th of March, the Opposition Leader said all businesses with a taxable income of over $5 million a year would face a tax hike of 1.7 per cent
But a day later he changed his mind. Now it was companies paying more than $5 million in company tax – by which time around 2,500 businesses had absolutely no idea what was going on and were anxiously wondering if they were going to cop the new tax. And not just big businesses. Medium, even small businesses feared they would pay the higher rate of tax.
Then it emerged that businesses would also be expected to cancel their own paid maternity leave schemes – described as ‘offsetting savings in the rambling speech – but like so many other details nothing was clear.
Questioned about an implementation date, it varied from two years to an unachievable few months after winning the election.
All of which leaves Australians correctly questioning the ongoing unravelling of a plan that offers no detail, no cost and no timeframe.
Bewildered, parents-to-be rightly have no idea what to expect from an Abbott led government, aside from more confusion and a whopping new tax.
In contrast, the Government is delivering a responsible Paid Parental Leave scheme that is fair to business and fair to families. It is fully costed and funded. It is based on the expert recommendations of the Productivity Commission following its extensive, year-long inquiry involving businesses and unions.
Our scheme will start on 1 January next year and will not add to the taxes paid by businesses.
It will give Australians planning to have a child or adding to their family the certainty and security of a paid parental leave scheme providing 18 weeks’ leave at the adult federal minimum wage, currently $543.78 a week, to the primary carer of a child born or adopted after 1 January, 2011.
It will be paid to women who’ve worked an average of one day a week in 10 of the 13 months before the birth of their child and is income tested at $150,000 on the income of the primary carer.
Under our scheme, the parental leave payments can be shared between parents. So, for example, it a mother stays home for 14 weeks and then returns to work, dad can then take over and use the remaining four weeks.
By topping up the Government’s paid parental leave scheme with other leave entitlements, the Productivity Commission estimated most parents would be able to spend six months caring for their baby.
Unlike the Opposition Leader, our commitment stretches back longer than a week. We went to the last election promising a Productivity Commission inquiry into paid parental leave and our scheme was announced in last year’s budget.
After years of waiting, next year Australia catches up with the rest of the world and finally gets its first paid parental leave scheme.
With nine months to go until the scheme begins and a couple of long weekends coming up, it could be a good reason to plan a romantic getaway.
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