Tony Abbott wants paid maternity leave

Posted by Jenni Colwill on 8 March 2010 | 3 Comments

Tags: paid maternity leave Australia, Tony Abbott paid maternity leave scheme

Who'd believe it - but hallelujah, hallelujah! At last, an Australian political party is listening to what women have been saying they want for a long, long time. Just take a look at some of my blogs from 2008...and 2009...

Abbott has obviously had an epiphany - today, on International Women's Day, Mr Abbott has had a change of heart from his previous position of saying 'no' to paid maternity leave, and has proposed a paid maternity leave scheme that is almost identical to the schemes recommended by many women's organisations in their submissions to the Productivity Commission.

Take a look - the National Foundation for Australian Women's web site states that their submission recommended:

• A minimum period of six months paid maternal leave
• Income replacement, rather than a minimalist welfare payment
• Four weeks paid paternal leave (at paternal wage level) and
• Financing through a mix of Government, employer and employee contributions, comparable to the financing of retirement incomes

And this is pretty much what Abbott is offering - in stark contrast to the miserly scheme that the Labor government came up with, offering no better than welfare payments for 18 weeks - a much shorter period - no superannuation payments and no baby bonus!

I must say, I found it pretty difficult to believe that Labor could be so out of touch with women when this proposal was agreed, but perhaps they were just being a little too complacent.

I almost hesitate to say it, but I think that this could be a significant vote swinger for the Liberals.

Maybe Abbott is a lot smarter than I thought! No time now to be complacent, Mr Rudd.