If you were hoping Tony Abbott’s paid parental leave scheme might tempt a few of your kids to spawn some grandkids, you’ll need to find another reasons it appears as the Coalition have apparently quietly dumped the policy over the weekend despite the role it played in increasing Abbott’s popularity with women. It is of no surprise to us here though, the over 60s, who have only been hit with cuts by the Government since it came in.
It appears, according to news reports that the $5.5 billion paid parental leave scheme being proposed passionately by Tony Abbott in the last election might have met a political death, or at least been brushed under the carpet as the Government struggles with unpopularity in the wake of the budget. The Sydney Morning Herald has yesterday reported a government source saying the scheme had been placed in the “too-hard basket” because the Coalition was fighting on too many fronts and struggling to get its basic budget measures passed by the Senate.
Now I don’t know about you, but I was always skeptical that this one would ever make it to the Senate and almost positive it would never see the other side of the Senate. It smelled of election voter bait from day one so badly that even I, an optimistic full time working mother couldn’t believe it to be true. Even some of the staunch Liberal supporters I know refused to believe it would come to fruition.
I mean how could our country, facing the end of the mining construction boom, the end of national manufacturing and the ageing population really afford to pay senior working women, or anyone a benefit of $50,000 to have a child, even if we were planning to charge big companies a 1.5% levy to fund it.
The SMH alleges that a number of backbenchers have pleaded with Mr Abbott to shelve the legislation, and crossbench senators Bob Day and Nick Xenophon were clear in their urging of Mr Hockey to scrap the scheme during budget negotiations in Adelaide last week.
The policy was tabled proudly by Mr Abbott in 2010, and has been touted for years as his legacy to women across the nation. In fact for some it was a turning point in his popularity with women who before this had seen him as rather chauvinistic.
So tell us today, what did you think of the paid parental leave scheme? Waste of money or important social support?
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