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New mums will be able to claim paid maternity leave from their employers, as well as the government, if Labor gets into power.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said that new mothers didn’t deserve to be labelled “double-dippers”, and that he would ditch the Coalition government’s controversial plan to crack down on women accessing paid leave from the government as well as their employer.
The news will be welcome to women set to miss out on thousands of dollars from July this year.
Shorten’s announcement – on Mother’s Day – comes exactly one year after former Treasurer Joe Hockey said that women should not be able to claim the government paid parental leave of 18 weeks at minimum wage, as well as money from their employer.
His comments represented a spectacular backflip on former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s election promise of a leave scheme offering women six months’ paid leave.
The Coalition government has stayed relatively quiet on paid parental leave so far, although last week’s budget confirmed plans to go ahead with plans to abolish double-dipping from July.
According to a media release issued by Mr Shorten’s office, “Under Labor’s policy, each year 80,000 families with new babies will be as much as $11,800 better off than they would be under the Liberals.”
Source: The Australian
