Tony Abbott and parental leave
In a surprise move Tony Abbott has announced that he intends to introduce a paid maternity leave - or parental leave - scheme.
His proposal made in a speech on International Women's Day, proposes that women in the paid workforce would get 6 months pay on their usual salary - up to a salary of $150,000 a year. The payments would be made by taxing big business - perhaps those that have incomes of more than $5 million - an additional tax of 1.7% on their company tax.
Mr Abbott's proposal is far more 'generous' than Mr Rudd's proposal, which is 18 weeks paid leave on the minimum wage.
We are concerned about the provision of paid maternity or parental leave - whether by government or big business - because it creates a huge division between waged and unwaged mothers. Research shows that young children do much better if they have the care of their mother for the first two or three years of life.
Tempe Harvey, who formed Kids First Australia to oppose discriminatory paid parental leave and the funding of daycare that is far higher than payments made for parent care, has expressed concern that this proposal is discriminatory - giving children of mothers who are in paid employment much more funding than children whose mothers are at home when they get pregnant.
A document, called 'The Great Childcare Gap' has been prepared by a nubmer of organisations that analyses the varying payments made to unwaged mothers and to waged mothers under both Mr Rudd's and Mr Abbott's schemes. Read the 1 page analysis - The Great Childcare Gap
Tony Abbott's parental leave proposal has caused a huge furore:
- The Shadow Cabinet is unhappy that they weren't consulted before the announcement was made.
- Big business is unhappy that they will be charged an additional tax to pay for the scheme.
- On the other hand, small business supports it - because they will benefit and not have to pay for it!
- Some women's groups are supporting the move. Women's Forum Australia has issued a media release supporting his proposal. |