FED:Abbott unveils paid parental policy

AAP General News (Australia)
08-03-2010
FED:Abbott unveils paid parental policy

By Susanna Dunkerley

BRISBANE, Aug 3 AAP - A nursery full of plants, animals and children provided the perfect
backdrop for Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to unveil the final details of his $8.8 billion
paid parental leave scheme.

Mr Abbott, accompanied by his daughter Louise, insisted he had "become attached" to
the idea of paid parental leave, which he once said would be introduced "over his dead
body".

The six-month scheme comes with superannuation payments and a price tag of $8.8 billion
from 2012-2014, but its introduction has been delayed until July 2012.

"It's very important that my daughter's generation doesn't have to struggle the way
their mothers did to wrestle with the different choices of work and family," he told reporters
at the bustling venue in Brisbane.

The scheme will be funded through a 1.5 per cent "temporary" levy on big business,
in line with the coalition's promised company tax cuts.

Mr Abbott said the higher than expected cost meant it won't be implemented until 2012,
but until then Labor's legislated 18-week scheme, paid at the federal minimum wage, would
stay.

Opposition frontbencher Sophie Mirabella, who attended the launch with her eight-week
old daughter Katarina, said women would be understanding.

"Yes it would have been great to deliver it (now), but that's not possible and most
people understand that," she said.

But one mother, a swinging voter, at the nursery in the marginal coalition seat of
Bowman in Brisbane, wasn't convinced.

"I don't want to see policies be changed or put on hold just because of the economy,"

29-year-old Erin Demonte told AAP, questioning Mr Abbott's commitment.

The opposition leader explained that he wanted to apply his "enduring values to contemporary
policy".

He added that the "visionary social policy" would help boost "population participation
and productivity," referring to the former treasurer Peter Costello's well-known line.

Procreation was also the subject of an earlier joke Mr Abbott had with the Liberal
member for Bowman Andrew Laming, while the pair were socialising with the mothers.

Mr Laming joked that "the pressure is on" his family to have a second child, because
friends had been increasing their brood.

"Well you know what you've got to do," Mr Abbott, who has three daughters replied,
adding that it could be "a bit hard to achieve on the campaign trail".

Meanwhile, Mr Abbott used a little hyperbole to reject the offer of Prime Minister
Julie Gillard for a second debate on the economy, saying it clashed with his campaigning
schedule.

"Labor had the chance to have three debates at the start of the campaign. They repeatedly
refused and frankly, things have moved on, the time for changing the rules has passed,"

he told reporters.

"She said no repeatedly, and when she said no, I thought she meant no."

This is a term commonly used to describe a women's right to say no to sex.

AAP sld/sb/was/it/de

KEYWORD: POLL10 ABBOTT WRAP (PIX AND VIDEO)

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.