Liberal senator Arthur Sinodinos warned it was “not a good look to be having a go at the young mothers” over paid parental leave after a fiery parliamentary debate over whether senior ministers called new mothers “rorters” and “fraudsters”.

Tony Abbott has defended Joe Hockey and Scott Morrison after they questioned the behaviour of parents who claim both government and employer parental leave payments, a legal practice which government members have described as “double dipping”.



The debate came after the budget introduced the measure, which is expected to affect almost 80,000 new mothers who will now not receive as much parental leave as a result. It is expected to save the government nearly $1bn.



It was a clear departure from Abbott’s original signature paid parental leave policy, which he took to the 2013 election and would have paid women 26 weeks at their salaries up to $150,000.



While Abbott, Hockey and Morrison have said the budget measure was a matter of equity, Sinodinos said: “let’s not beat around the bush, it’s about finding a saving at a time when savings were needed”.



“I think the problem is it’s not a good look to be having a go at the young mothers or new mothers of Australia and I think some of the language has been a bit unfortunate,” he said. “We should be a bit more empathetic.”

Currently, individuals can receive commonwealth paid parental leave in addition to their employer-provided entitlements.

After 1 July 2016, the government will no longer fund paid parental leave for about 34,000 mothers a year whose employer already pays as much, or more, than the taxpayer-funded scheme, which is worth $11,500 to each mother.

A further 45,000 mothers receiving employer leave that is less than the maximum government benefit will lose part of their government-paid leave as they will only be topped up to $11,500 in total.

Abbott and Hockey spent the day selling the budget, concentrating on the tax cuts for small business and claiming Labor would raise taxes.

In the first parliamentary question time since Tuesday’s budget, Tony Abbott defended his position on paid parental leave.

Labor asked the prime minister if he agreed with the comments by Hockey and Morrison regarding mothers who claimed both benefits.

Labor’s Jenny Macklin asked: “Does the prime minister agree with the minister for social services that mums who get more than 18 weeks paid leave at home with their new babies are rorters? Or does he agree with his treasurer, who believes they’re committing fraud?”

Labor’s Tanya Plibersek asked the prime minister about a salary deal at Woolworths where workers negotiated an extra eight weeks of parental leave.

“Why does the prime minister want to take this extra bonding time away from mothers and their babies? Does he agree with his ministers that these mothers are rorters and fraudsters?” said Plibersek.

Abbott insisted Labor was lying and he rejected Labor’s accusations that his ministers had referred to mothers accessing government and employer paid parental leave as “rorters” or “fraudsters”.

“Let’s get this absolutely crystal clear,” said Abbott. “The treasurer never called anyone … a fraudster and the minister for social services never called anyone on paid parental leave a rorter.”

At the weekend, Joe Hockey was asked by journalist Laurie Oakes: “This is basically fraud, isn’t it, taking an allowance twice, effectively? Who is doing it?”

“Well, it is, in many cases it’s mostly people who go on parental leave that earn more than $90,000 a year,” said Hockey.

“But there are people at various levels who have been claiming parental leave payments from taxpayers, as well as from their employers. Given that our own paid parental leave scheme is not proceeding, we want to make sure that the system is fairer and that’s exactly what we are doing.”

On Monday, the social services minister Scott Morrison was asked on Sky News: “Sometimes employers don’t give generous programs. I know of a lawyer in Canberra, she gets six weeks, how is that generous?



“Well she will get the balance through the paid parental leave scheme which is provided by the taxpayer. She will get the same thing as someone working for the bakery and that’s the important thing here we are getting rid of what is an inequity and frankly in many cases I think is a rort.”



Greens MP Adam Bandt said his party would fight the government’s attempt to cut paid parental leave and called for legislation which enshrined six months of paid leave.



“The Greens want parents to have more paid time off with their new children, not less,” said Bandt. “The Greens will fight the Abbott government’s cuts to paid parental leave.”



“The best way to look after children and to support women getting back to work is by legislating six months of paid parental leave, not by taking the axe to the current minimum entitlement. The current scheme was always intended to be a floor, not a ceiling.”

