That could be taxpayer dollars she’s spending on food. Even worse, she could have double dipped. Enjoying employer-paid banana bread, washed down with a taxpayer-paid skim latte. Thankfully, she doesn’t have the time or money to order the smashed avocado.
To think that a new mother should not only take such time off work, but also leave the house to push a pram around the park before taking a rest once the baby’s finally asleep. She should have patted that baby to sleep in its cot, and then used the 35 minutes break to prepare a home cooked meal for the rest of the family. She could have done some upskilling, or even checked in with her employer over email. She’s getting paid maternity leave to bring the next generation of taxpayers into the world, not to look after herself.
The Coalition wants to end the rort, and is now pushing legislation through Parliament to do so.
It started last year when the Abbott Government promised to end the ‘double dipping’ around 80,000 new mothers were apparently doing by receiving paid maternity leave from an employer, as well as the 18 weeks at minimum wage on offer from the government.
Perhaps I was naive to think at the time that they’d never actually go through with such an attack on women at one of the most vulnerable times of their lives, especially given then prime minister Tony Abbott had only a couple of years earlier promised a far more generous paid parental leave scheme, his signature policy for women (and pretty much his only policy for women).
But such legislation is now before the Senate under the Turnbull Government, with Social Services Minister Christian Porter claiming the reforms will make the system “fairer”.
Under the proposed changes, there will be no more double-dipping for new mothers, potentially as early as 1 January 2017 (with the legislation proposing a number of dates). That’s in just over two months. There are women who’re heavily pregnant right now who could lose up to 18 weeks of paid leave they had planned, meaning they may be heading back to the office earlier than expected — that then has all sorts of other consequences, such as having to cut breastfeeding earlier to accommodate spending hours away from the new baby. Opposition families spokeswoman Jenny Macklin estimates there could be around 40,000 to 50,000 women already pregnant who’ll be up to $12,000 worse off.
As Jo Briskey from the Parenthood notes, Australia already has one of the least generous paid maternity leave schemes in the world. It was developed to push the idea both governments and employers have a role to play in supporting new parents, enabling as many new mothers as possible to have at least six months paid leave at home with their babies — including ambulance officers, teachers and those working at Woolworths.
When the Abbott Government first announced this proposal — on Mother’s Day of all days — by using the term ‘double dippers’, it faced a public outcry and was later forced to backdown on suggesting new mothers were rorting the system.
The Opposition has promised to fight the legislation in the senate, and is hoping to enlist the support of cross-bench senators.
The Turnbull Government’s got a big fight on its hands.
And expectant mothers now face even more uncertainty, and less options for taking a break.