Liberals outflank Labor on paid maternity leave
Posted by John, February 9th, 2010 - under Labor Party, Paid maternity leave, Rudd Government, Rudd Labor, The Liberals, Tony Abbott.
Bible bashing anti-abortionist and ’mums at home’ supporter Tony Abbott has promised a six month paid parental leave scheme.
The Opposition is working on details but it appears the scheme will be more generous than Labor’s 18 weeks on the minimum wage.
This is because not only is it 8 weeks longer but, if Abbott follows the suggestions in his book Battlelines, it will be on full pay.
Abbott suggested in Battlelines that his plan could be funded through a 0.5 percent increase in payroll tax, but since becoming Opposition leader he has said that he doesn’t want to impose costs on small business in introducing such a scheme.
Abbott wants women to have babies and stay at home. Yet he recognises realities.
46 percent of the working population is female. Without women in the workforce Australian capitalism would implode.
Abbott’s paid maternity leave scheme (that is what he will call it) accepts this reality and attempts to mesh it with Abbott’s reactionary ideas about women and his vision of their role in the home.
The move has flummoxed Labor. The Liberals are outflanking them on a social issue and the scheme is a likely to appeal to lots of working class women.
Labor were too clever by half. They thought they could introduce a paid parental leave scheme on the cheap – a mere $260 million compared to billions for pink batts – and claim the political kudos for doing so.
With the more generous Liberal plan Labor now just look like a bunch of risk averse conservatives with little understanding of the lives of working women. Which is what they are, really.
Labor have squawked ‘Where’s the money coming from?’
Is that it, Labor? Is that all you’ve got?
You’re criticising the Liberals for spending more on working women than you do? Wow, that’s a really progressive stance!
Labor’s pathetic scheme makes the Liberals’ pathetic scheme look good.
At the moment Australia is one of two OECD countries without any form of state supported parental leave. When Labor’s scheme starts in 2011 Australia will then have one of the worst state supported paid maternity leave arrangements. One of the worst.
Even Abbott’s plans won’t improve the situation much.
Twelve months paid parental leave on the average wage would be a better start and bring us into the company of civilised countries.
How could we pay for this? By doing something Rudd and Abbott would never do – taxing the rich.
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Comments
Comment from John Humphreys
Time February 11, 2010 at 9:05 pm
Abstract question… if there were no rich people, who would you tax? And if it turns out that your spending plans rely on the continued existence of rich people to exploit, how would you try and guarantee the continued existence of rich people? Or is it your opinion that abolishing rich people would remove the need for government spending?
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Time February 12, 2010 at 8:01 pm
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This post was mentioned on Reddit by Passy: With the more generous Liberal paid parental leave plan Labor now just look like a bunch of risk averse conservatives with little understanding of the lives of working women. Which is what they are, really….
Comment from w ch
Time February 9, 2010 at 10:12 pm
Good article John. The Rudd Govt has been a huge disappointment.