In question time in the Senate on Thursday, Senator Cormann confirmed his own family had double-dipped, or rather, "worked within a system that was available at the time like any other family". Mathias Cormann told Sky News that he was not involved in the day-to-day matters of Operation Sovereign Borders. Credit:Andrew Meares "My family will work within what system is in place in future," Senator Cormann told the Senate. It came after the Finance Minister was asked at a media conference earlier on Thursday to confirm his wife had benefited from two schemes. Earlier this week Senator Cormann told the ABC's AM program: "If you get access already to a very generous paid parental leave scheme, there is no reason why you should be able to double-dip. That is the argument."

Senator Cormann told the Senate on Thursday he did not believe the government had painted mothers as "rorters" and agreed with sentiments expressed by Senator Arthur Sinodinos and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull that the government should make its sales pitch with empathy. Mr Frydenberg told Sky News on Thursday his family had made use of what is available under the "current laws" but defended the Coalition's move on paid parental leave. "But it's fairer going forward to allow people to access just one scheme ... it's a fairer deal for the taxpayer," he said. The issue dominated question time in the House of Representatives on Thursday, with Labor demanding Mr Abbott state whether it was better for new mothers to have 18 weeks at home with their babies or six months. "We want a fair system and what the member for Sydney [Tanya Plibersek] is suggesting is that public servants should get two lots of paid parental leave from the taxpayer. That's what she's saying," Mr Abbott said.

When pressed again to answer the specific question of whether 18 weeks or six months was better, Mr Abbott said: "Madam Speaker, what would be much better would be if Labor would help this government to deliver a better childcare system." Labor's Terri Butler was asked to leave the chamber after she pushed Social Services Minister Scott Morrison to say whether a mother-to-be in her electorate was a "rorter" because she wanted to use both schemes to spend more time with her baby. Ms Butler was booted from the House after she said the woman was not a member of the public service, for whom the government has argued the PPL scheme is too generous. "I thank the member for her question and I reject the assertion in terms of what she claims my statements have been. That is not my claim," Mr Morrison said He later argued that the current system was "an unfair scheme" Labor had set up with its "union mates".

The fiery question time followed comments by Senator Sinodinos who warned associating mothers with rorters and fraudsters could backfire on the government, while Mr Turnbull on Thursday said mothers were legally entitled to access both schemes. Mr Turnbull, who supports the savings measure, called for empathy in the government's sales pitch and rejected suggestions mothers were double-dipping, saying they were entitled to access both government and employer benefits. "I respect every mother and I believe people are entitled to use whatever benefits that are available to them," he said. Loading But he said he did not agree the government had referred to women who benefited from both as "rorters".