Prime Minister Tony Abbott is today expected to announce he will walk away from his signature Paid Parental Leave policy. After media reports yesterday that Abbott will use his Press Club address today to announce the change, the Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg confirmed as much to ABC radio this morning.
“We’ve taken [it] off the table,” Frydenberg said. “He will say that it’s off the table because the prime minister understands that what is desirable is not always doable. There will be an emphasis on child care and how we can build and boost female workforce participation.”
Today will be the first time Tony Abbott has addressed the Press Club in his 18 months as Prime Minister. After the shock election results in Queensland which has compounded the pressure on Abbott’s leadership following the fall-out from his decision to bestow a Knighthood on Prince Philip last week, today’s speech is critical. As The Australian Financial Review’s chief political correspondent Phillip Coorey put it, Abbott will effectively be “pleading for his job”.
And it seems childcare might be one of the levers he turns to. Yesterday the minister for social services Scott Morrison foreshadowed a major overhaul in the childcare sector which Abbott is expected to outline in detail today.
“What I am frustrated about is we’ve spent all this money, the costs are rising, we’ve actually made it more expensive and we’re not getting what it’s for,’’ Morrison told the Sunday Telegraph’s Samantha Maiden. “It’s not delivering a participation outcome. The increase in the rebate from 30 to 50 per cent hasn’t delivered that either. That’s not an argument against supporting childcare. But the way we’ve been doing things hasn’t really delivered.’’
The chief criticism of Abbott’s so called “gold-plated” PPL was the fact the Productivity Commission had signalled that the increased cost would not procure a commensurate increase in women’s workforce participation. By contrast, improving the affordability and availability of good quality childcare is a more cost-effective means of boosting women’s workforce participation.
It is why the executive director of The Parenthood Jo Briskey says shifting the government’s focus from PPL into childcare will reap rewards.
“Support for meeting the cost of childcare is a productivity measure – it’s an incentive for parents, especially women, to get back into the workforce,” Briskey says. “Accessing parental leave isn’t the biggest hurdle for mums wanting to get back to work. It’s the ability to find high quality, affordable early learning and care.”
The importance of quality in early childhood education can’t be overstated which is why Morrison’s confirmation yesterday that the National Quality Framework, which guides minimum standards in childcare, will stay in place was welcomed by peak bodies in the sector.
“Saving the national quality standards is a huge win for parents, educators, and early childhood experts but most of all it’s a win for children because a high quality early childhood sector gives them the best start in life,” David O’Bryne, the national secretary of United Voice, the early childhood union, said. “These standards are critical to their safety and wellbeing. That’s why they are the key to parents’ willingness to return to work after having children. Parents want quality, affordability and a stable workforce. We have preserved quality and now we need to see Tony Abbott’s plan on affordability and preventing 180 staff leaving the sector every week.”
The CEO of Community Child Care Co-operative NSW Leanne Gibbs is hopeful Abbott will commit the funds from PPL into quality childcare across Australia. The PPL was to be funded by a 1.5% levy on big business and it seems this mechanism might continue, with the funds redirected into childcare
“Minister Morrison has clearly listened, but the devil is always in the detail and tomorrow we will see if the Prime Minister also listens when he announces more details of the government’s Family Package at the National Press Club,” Gibbs said.