Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey is still railing against the welfare state. Addressing the Institute of Public Affairs yesterday, he stated:
“Addressing the ongoing fiscal crises will involve the winding back of universal access to payments and entitlements from the state. This will require the redefining of the concept of mutual obligation and the reinvigoration of a culture of self reliance.”
Hockey also supports the Coalition’s wildly generous paid parental leave scheme. The irony, surely, isn’t lost on him.
Parental leave, of course, is an entitlement worth supporting. But Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has everyone from business leaders to his own caucus telling him the Coalition scheme is unsustainable.
For the opposition it’s a no-win situation: rather than embrace it, polls show women actually prefer Labor’s plan. Whatever gains Abbott has made on the female vote, it hasn’t come about through his parental leave scheme.
Instead, it’s a test of his leadership. He can stand firm in the party room — and give his treasurer splitting headaches when it comes to enacting it — or he can concede defeat, lose nothing electorally and fight more important internal battles. Industrial relations springs to mind …
I thought it was an “Abbott scheme”?
The inconsistency of Abbott: he rejects the Rolls Royce NBN but insists on a Rolls Royce version of parental leave.
Every Australian will benefit from the NBN whereas parental leave is a niche market.
Albatross is the word.
This was a thought bubble from one man who perceived it would help solve a political problem over the way women regard him.
It’s absurd, it’s discriminatory and it’s unaffordable in 2013. I’m all for women to get 6 month paid maternity leave at their normal pay rate provided their employer pays it. It’s no territory for the taxpayer.
If I was advising Abbott, I’d postpone it. That would avoid dumping it with the associated political fall out but would also avoid having to implement it.
…Hockey also supports the Coalition’s wildly generous paid parental leave scheme. The irony, surely, isn’t lost on him. It is, the man is a fool!
The levy is not sustainable but Abbott doesn’t intend that the levy on big business should continue longer than him getting himself secure in the Lodge. Then the payment obligation will be transferred to the taxpayer and be taken out of general revenue. This scheme is pork barrelling the wealthy plain and simple. The born to rule people do not lose any opportunity to transfer benefits to themselves.