Tony Abbott confirms Coalition will alter paid parental leave scheme Changes reportedly under consideration include new means test and a lower cap on payments aimed at securing Senate support Tony Abbott in Melbourne on Friday. The prime minister has faced increasing pressure from inside the Liberal party over his paid parental leave scheme. Katharine Murphy, deputy political editor Sunday 7 December 2014 10.30 AEST Tony Abbott has confirmed he will rework his “signature” paid parental leave scheme in an effort to secure Senate support in 2015. The small business minister, Bruce Billson, told Sky News on Sunday morning the scheme would be subject to “recalibration and refinement” given ongoing Senate opposition and internal disquiet over the generosity of the benefit. Government officials told the News Corp Sunday tabloids the prime minister had agreed to consider a new means test, and a lower cap on the current maximum payout. The original scheme would have seen high income earners eligible for payments of $75,000. That has been wound back to $50,000, and may decrease further. A government official told Guardian Australia on Sunday there would be no formal announcement until the new year, but the government had agreed to refine and “better target” paid parental leave – with savings to be directed into childcare programs and rebates for home care, including nannies. The scheme has been the subject of internal breakouts for more than 12 months, with some Liberal and National senators arguing the scheme is much too expensive at a time when the government is making a virtue of fiscal austerity. Abbott has resisted making significant changes to the scheme which the Coalition took to the elections in 2010 and 2013 – but then he signalled in the closing parliamentary week that it would have to be tweaked in light of the resistance. The shadow finance minister Tony Burke told the ABC on Sunday morning the backflip underscored the prime minister’s current political woes. “It shows that this proposal was never fair or affordable and it also shows they never should have taken a billion dollars out of the child care budget,” he said. Advertisement But Burke said the Sunday news reports were not the first time the government has signalled adjustments to the scheme. “It’s not the first time they’ve leaked this so we’ll wait till we see the details.” The shadow treasurer Chris Bowen queried how the change would be accounted for in the mid-year economic forecasts, given there were no specifics. Abbott told reporters in Sydney on Sunday he was not going to get into specifics of the reboot, but he remained committed to “a proper paid parental leave scheme, a paid parental leave that pays women their real wage.” “It’s very important that we do have a proper paid parental leave scheme based on a woman’s real wage,” Abbott said. “But it’s also very important that we do the right thing by the mothers of Australia, particularly the mothers who are trying to be economic participants as well as social participants – and that’s why in the months ahead over the summer, my ministers and I will be looking at the productivity commission report on childcare, and we will be better targeting our paid parental leave scheme so that we cannot only deliver a paid parental leave scheme which helps families but a more available and more affordable childcare as well.” Abbott said the reworked scheme would be based on a woman’s real wage, would still include super, and “it will still be funded by the 3,000 largest companies in Australia”. The prime minister said the change reflected listening to input from his colleagues. He indicated he was interested in looking at options to expand in-home care. Asked whether the change amounted to another broken promise, the prime minister said: “Sensible governments look at what’s happening in the community, they look at what’s happening in the community and respond.” Asked why he was announcing a reboot on a busy news day without any specific detail, the prime minister said his was a busy government. “We are not letting the grass grow under our feet.” theguardian/australia-news/2014/dec/07/tony-abbott-confirms-coalition-will-alter-paid-paid-parental-leave-scheme
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 07:45:00 +0000
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