PM Tony Abbott’s New Childcare Package Will Discard Government Parental Leave Payment For New Mothers, Sparks Criticism

Under the new childcare package, around 80,000 new mothers in Australia will not be entitled for government parental leave payment, resulting in a loss of approximately AUD 11,500 benefit as provided under the current scheme since July 2016. The announcement was made on Mother’s Day, May 10.

According to Joe Hockey, Australia’s treasurer, the present arrangement allows mothers to have double dipping, which the Abbott administration will stop, remarking that mothers “cannot get both parental leave” from taxpayers and employer. Speaking to Channel Nine, the treasurer explained the government will reap almost AUD 1 billion in four years under the new childcare package.

Both Hockey and Prime Minister Tony Abbott did not provide specific number of mothers who will be affected with the new policy. In a press conference in Sydney, Mr. Abbott said he wanted to “stress the fairness element,” elaborating that although he supported paid parental leave, for some reasons, his administration realised “the time was not right for the fullness of the policy” that was spoken about in the last election.

Mother Of All Insults

Marian Baird, employment relations professor of Sydney University described the proposed changes to parental leave payments as “the mother of all insults” especially that the announcement was made on Mother’s Day. Baird commented the new government scheme was devised to reconcile with the employer’s scheme.

“This really undermines the architecture of the scheme and its original philosophy. And to now say that mothers are double dipping is just rude and cruel — it is an outrageous attack on mothers because that was the plan of the scheme,” Baird retorted, explaining that the rationale behind the current package is to allow women 26 weeks of parental leave payment for breast-feeding and for a bonding moment between the infants and their mothers. She further criticised the new policy to be a “mockery” of what the prime minister has uttered regarding parental leave payments.

A columnist of The Age Comment shared her opinion on double dipping, arguing that it is a “disgusting slur on new mothers, accusing them of charging twice for the same event.”

Another reaction came from Elizabeth Hill, also a professor of University of Sydney. Hill said the accusation is “a mismatch between the changed parental leave policy and the provision of childcare.”

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