It’s great Tony Abbott saw the light about paid parental leave but it would have been much better if some more of the focus was applied to how the scheme would be funded.
The unfortunate fact about policy measures to improve women’s workforce participation is the limited political attention and incentive for any changes at all. It took decades to get a national parenting leave scheme up and running (and there were plenty who predicted dire consequences that didn’t eventuate).
What’s at stake now is a better framework but one which is contingent on complicated changes that appear to have been poorly planned despite all that has been learnt and the proposed policy being announced three years ago.
The key difference with this policy is of course the amount that will be paid. But the fact the proposed PPL offers replacement salary is not new – many organisations in the public and private sector have been offering exactly that in their schemes for years. Most continued to offer these payments as well as the government’s paid parenting allowance.
Broad consultation with the business community about how to frame and implement an improved arrangement would have been sensible but doesn’t appear to have happened.
What has emerged is widespread confusion about the levy on business, and frustration from a few other groups, including shareholders up in arms over the impact on franking credits. To a degree this type of reaction to policy change is inevitable but, surely, at least some of this was avoidable.
Whenever the discussion is about maternity leave, there is going to be a quick default to the argument that women – not parents, just mothers, of course – are profiting at the expense of other employees.
Some inaccurate and pernicious assumptions tend to fuel this conversation – what exactly do the critics think women with small babies do with their maternity pay? They will still have bills to pay and mortgages, and after a baby comes along, as well as a raft of new costs for an extra human being.
These are family expenses and not about selfish women getting favours. The bigger picture is these payments are about ensuring women stick to the workplace for the benefit of the economy. But that message is getting lost in this debate. And, of course, a range of other important areas of attention for women have barely been broached by any of the political parties.
Just this week, as Women’s Agenda pointed out, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released depressing data showing the gender pay gap has once again widened in Australia. This is a major problem that affects all women and needs lots of attention and new ideas from government and business.
Unfortunately the oxygen around ‘women’s stuff’ in this election campaign appears to have already been used up. And maybe that’s the issue in itself; none of these policies or issues just affect women. They are societal challenges that impact all of us. Any politician who can tackle that has my full attention.