Prime Minister stares down Coalition backbencher's plea for compromise on paid parental leave

Updated

Prime Minister Tony Abbott is staring down a backbencher's plea for a compromise on his paid parental leave policy, saying his $5.5 billion scheme is a "matter of justice".

Nationals Senator John Williams has long argued the Prime Minister's scheme can only be afforded when the budget is back in the black.

Senator Williams says Labor's scheme, which pays new parents 18 weeks leave at the minimum wage, could be extended to 26 weeks with superannuation included.

From July the minimum wage will be $640.90 per week, making it the highest in the world in US dollar terms.

Parental leave scheme The scheme will provide mothers with 26 weeks of paid parental leave at their actual wage or the national minimum wage (whichever is greater), plus superannuation.

The Coalition went to the election saying a woman earning $150,000 or more would receive the maximum cap of $75,000, but dropped the threshold to $100,000 with a maximum payment of $50,000.

From July the minimum wage will be $640.90 per week. At this rate, the minimum paid parental leave payment would be $16,663.40.

The current paid parental leave scheme, set up by Labor, pays all eligible mothers the minimum wage (currently $622.10) for a maximum of 18 weeks, totalling just over $11,000.

Senator Williams says the Prime Minister's plan to pay parents their full wage for six months has its merits but cannot be afforded at a time when the budget is in deficit.

"We've sent a clear message out to every Australian that we have a serious budget problem," Senator Williams told the ABC.

"I've said before the election and after the election that I've no problems with the proposed paid parental leave scheme so long as we have a strong economy.

"I'm concerned the economy is not strong enough, unemployment is too high and we've got a serious problem trying to fix this budget mess left by the Labor Party."

But speaking in Canada, the Prime Minister was resolute.

"Let's not forget that this fundamentally is a matter of justice for the women of our country," Mr Abbott told reporters in Ottawa.

"It is my fundamental conviction that paid parental leave is not a welfare entitlement, it's a workplace entitlement, that's why I'm sticking with the policy."

Mr Abbott describes his paid parental leave policy, which was never debated by his colleagues in the party room, as his "signature policy" and privately wants it to be the legacy he leaves as Prime Minister.

Nine months after its election, the Government is still to release any draft legislation and state whether or not the policy will be put to the current Senate, where it could face an uncertain future at the hands of rebel Government senators.

Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen says the Opposition is not interested in compromising on paid parental leave.

"The compromise could be for Tony Abbott to drop his expensive paid parental leave scheme and adopt the scheme which Labor left - Australia's first paid parental leave scheme, one which is fair and affordable. That's the only one Labor's interested in," he said.

Greens MP Adam Bandt says his party wants more detail on the Coalition's scheme.

"We want to see the details, see the costs of any scheme, we want to know other questions like for example will Commonwealth public servants or people who work for employers with generous payments, will they continue to receive those or will they be worse off under this scheme?" he said.

Topics: federal-parliament, parliament, federal-government, government-and-politics, family-and-children, australia

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