paid parental leave

[***super_nova***]

There's a chorus of economic opinion against Tony Abbott on paid parental leave. Even Judith Sloan, the economist who long since gave up her independent economist reputation in cheering for a Tony Abbott victory at The Australian, reckons the Coalition's scheme is "too generous, too expensive and wasteful of precious taxpayer funds":

"For all the bragging, there is not much evidence that female workforce participation will rise much or that productivity will improve, particularly as there is already a scheme in place.

"There will be no requirement that mothers return to work, just as with the current scheme. And for those women who fail the work test before giving birth, there is now virtually no assistance from the taxpayer. It's one rule for working mums, another for non-working ones.

"The compliance costs will be considerable. What evidence will be required to establish replacement earnings? How will the self-employed be treated? What about workers on commission? Or with multiple jobs? The scope for rorting is obvious and preventing it will cost money.

"For new mothers, the early months fly by. The real challenge for mothers re-entering the workforce is the availability and cost of child care. The Coalition should direct its efforts at these issues and leave paid parental leave alone."

Well said. When Sloan is against you, alarm bells should be ringing at Coalition HQ.

It won't matter, of course -- at least on current polling. But unsustainable economic policy, however the numbers are massaged before the election, is the millstone Abbott would wear in a first term. And the biggest test for Joe Hockey, Andrew Robb and the rest of the harder economic heads around the party room would be to talk their leader off the edge.

[lakeland27]

I find it interesting his allies are critical of him on this, maybe they believe it won't get much traction and do Tone the untouchable any harm. this allows them (the churnalists) some credibility at least, even if it is selective and a bit late . they can say ''oh, we criticised the PPL policy'' as a defense down the track a little when the cracks start to appear..

[donnashuggy]

Of course it is too generous, it does not make sense, it's embarrassing. They need to put out more detail.

[***super_nova***]

And what about women on ordinary salary who are unable to continue to work through the pregnancy for health reasons?  If they expected to be earning money until just before the birth, but were not able to, they will be already under financial stress by the time the baby is born and then when they would really need some help they will get nothing, while well off healthy women will get heaps.  Of-course, financial stress for anyone who is having a difficult pregnancy will have further health repercussions. 

[donnashuggy]

And what about women who take the 75,000 and decide not to go back to work? 

That's true nova, morning sickness is a good example.

Having a baby changes you, that is why I ended up doing eBay, I couldn't do both well enough. I could only manage it with my first as my husband was able to look after the baby while I was at work, I did plan to go back after the second but couldn't. I'm sure there are plenty out there like me that don't want to leave their children.

[i-need-a-martini]

I wonder if his push to get this through has anything to do with the fact that he has 3 girls of childbearing age in/soon to be going into high ranking careers...?

[donnashuggy]

Wouldn't surprise me