MUMS STILL WORSE OFF UNDER TURNBULL’S LATEST PAID PARENTAL LEAVE CUTS

21 November 2016

The Turnbull Government is reported to be considering a backroom deal to get the latest version of his cuts to paid parental leave through the Parliament. 

Federal member for Blair, Shayne Neumann said this continued chaos and dysfunction of Malcolm Turnbull's Government is causing unnecessary anxiety for thousands of pregnant women.

“Even under the so-called compromise deal, around 70,000 Australian mums with a median income of $62,000 would be on average $5,600 worse off,” Mr Neumann said. 

“About 4,000 new mums will lose access to the Government paid parental leave scheme completely and be more than $12,000 worse off.

“Pregnant mums need certainty when planning for the birth of their baby, the last thing they need is confusion about how much paid parental leave they are entitled to.”

Mr Turnbull currently has a Bill before the Parliament to cut paid parental leave to 80,000 new parents starting on 1 January 2017 - just 40 days away. 

“What exactly is the Turnbull Government's policy on paid parental leave? 

“Families in Ipswich and the Somerset Region know they can't trust the Liberals when it comes to paid parental leave.”

Tony Abbott used to say "over my dead body" when it came to paid parental leave. 

Then the Liberals promised a rolled gold paid parental leave scheme that they later junked. 

Then, in the mother of all insults, the Liberals announced on Mothers Day 2015, a massive to cut to paid parental leave to 80,000 new mums. 

“This Liberal Government cannot be trusted on paid parental leave - their record is nothing short of atrocious.” 

Example: 

As a result of Mr Turnbull’s so-called compromise cuts to paid parental leave a retail worker who gets 8 weeks paid leave from her employer will only have access to 12 weeks from the Government instead of 18. This means:

  • She only has 20 weeks of paid leave at home instead of 26 weeks (experts recommend mums need 6 months at home caring for their newborn)
  • She loses around $4,030 in support (6 weeks at the minimum wage of $672.70).