Dear Prime Minister
My wife and I have experienced something of a rude shock. She was going to write you a letter but we decided I would because, forgive us for being presumptuous, we thought you might listen to me. (I have seen a picture of your Cabinet and the voices of men seem to have a greater chance of being heard.)
So why are my wife and I feeling so perplexed? We moved to Australia ahead of the election in 2013 and we heard you talk about your paid parental leave policy. We were impressed because, like you, we recognise the importance of men and women working. My wife and I have studied and worked in equal measure and upon having any children we plan on sharing the responsibility for raising those children, with both of our careers. We’d rather not have all our eggs, so to speak, in one basket.
We listened to the debate about whether the $5.5 billion policy would be effective in facilitating this type of arrangement. We listened to the various arguments about whether childcare or PPL was a more effective lever for women’s workforce participation. Of course, along the way, we also heard those murmurs that you might have been selling this policy as a means of connecting with women voters, whom we’d read you had a rather troubled relationship. We weren’t deterred.
How could a political leader whom framed his entire campaign around being trusted, retreat from his signature policy?
Upon your successful election to Prime Minister (congratulations by the way) we were relieved and eagerly awaited the implementation of your new policy. Indeed, when we read you were taking on the portfolio as Minister for Women, we rejoiced.
What self-respecting Minister for Women wouldn’t prioritise policies geared towards improving women’s access to the workplace? Particularly one in a country where this is evidently a problem. (You strike me as someone with a rather healthy appreciation for competition, so I couldn’t help but presume you’d be none too happy to settle with Australia going backwards in a realm for which you are responsible.)
Any day now, my wife and I would say to one another. Any day now, our leader is going to put his stake in the ground and bring this policy to life. He is going to stand up and make the case for introducing policies that will make a meaningful difference to Australian women.
As the days and weeks passed, I’ll admit, our hope waned. When, we began asking? Late one night, I’m almost ashamed to say, I considered those murmurs. Surely , I asked myself, it wasn’t just a ploy to win over women voters?
Obviously we could see you had a bit going on and earlier this year when those troubles with your colleagues came to a head we understood why you had to back down. In light of some pretty compelling evidence we too saw the merit in rethinking the investment. Perhaps early learning and childcare would be the sensible beneficiary of an additional $5.5 billion in funding.
I mean when you consider that the current parental leave scheme acts as a safety net, and that a significant number of Australian employers already pay more generous parental leave to their employees, perhaps it wasn’t the most logical option for public funds.
We were happily settled on that money being funnelled into early learning and childcare, for the same reason we supported paid parental leave. That investment will help families return to work and it comes with the added bonus of improving the social outcomes for children and the economic outcomes for society. It’s a pretty clear win-win, at least it could have been.
Which brings me to the rather rude shock my wife and I experienced yesterday upon learning that the $5.5 billion you talked about, now won’t be spent on paid parental leave or childcare. It seems like a lose, lose if I ever heard one, and I can’t lie to you, Tony. It’s left a pretty unpleasant taste in my mouth.
Please tell me that you haven’t duped us? Because right now my wife and I are feeling pretty duped.
Yours sincerely
A very frustrated voter
Please note: This letter is fictional. The substance of it, sadly, isn’t fictional but the husband who wrote it is. It’s just me.