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Filed under: Election 2010, Politics, Question Time

7 comments

It’s the battle of the baby bonus today as Tony Abbott’s wildly ambitious plan to pay parents bucket loads of money gets put through the wringer. Join us here from 2pm for live coverage of Question Time.

Meanwhile the BBC’s Australia correspondent has written a piece about Kevin Rudd BC and AC - Before Copenhagen and After Copenhagen. Interesting outsider perspective.

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7 comments

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- Steve of Cornubia says:
  
  01:26pm | 09/03/10
  
  I just saw an online poll, asking whether I thought the taxpayer or business should foot the bill for paid maternity leave. I didn’t vote, because a third option should have been included - I vote that parents should pay for their own maternity leave!
  
  Reply
Stefano says:

01:51pm | 09/03/10

Couldn’t agree more>
- stephen says:
  
  01:47pm | 09/03/10
  
  Mr Abbott reckons his daughters thought up the latest policy of paying rich people to breed ; probably on the assumption that the rich are deemed successful, and successful people have good genes, and good genes should be maintained by taking money off everyone else.
  Market forces, anyone ? I don’t think so, and if the Abbott family wish to promote Capitalism, they should go back to theory, in which case they have two to choose from : Liberal, and nsdap.
  
  Reply
- AJ says:
  
  01:58pm | 09/03/10
  
  OK, let me get this straight. Under Labor’s plan, everyone gets the minimum wage, but it doesn’t cost very much (comparatively). Under the Libs plan, minimum wage earners earn no more than they would under the Labor plan, but the wealthy earn their income up to a cap of around $150k, and it costs a bucketload?
  
  Without wanting to state the obvious about the equity, who the hell is writing these policies which are antithetical to Liberal Party core values? Is securing Family First preferences that darn important?
  
  Reply
- Keith Hammersmith says:
  
  02:16pm | 09/03/10
  
  My wife and I own our own business, we are having a baby next month, we have to put more people on to cover the diminished workload myself and or my wife would be able to accomplish, do we get anything? Nope. Just thanks for stimulating the economy by running a business and employing. There is going to be no way to make this a fair policy accross the board, so I am of the opinion it should not be implemented.
  
  Reply
AJ says:

02:53pm | 09/03/10

Keith,

To make a tongue-in-cheek suggestion, and to highlight the inadequacies of the scheme, you could very well put your wife on the payroll for $150,000 a year for the next month, and get a free $75k from the Government (if the Coalition’s scheme was implemented)
- preciouspress says:
  
  02:40pm | 09/03/10
  
  Clear today that it’s the Opposition Tactics Committee needs ‘pink batts’. Without them their incompetence and lack of consequential thought was again there for all to see. As described by the PM, Abbott’s ‘thought bubble’ on maternity leave, denied his previous conviction on this issue, wasn’t discussed with or costed by his finance ministers, and sprung upon big business who would be expected to pay for the largesse. Despite this the opposition ask questions based upon this furphy - a gift to the Government.
  
  Reply

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