NEW claims that Julia Gillard opposed Labor's paid parental leave scheme in cabinet jolted her campaign last night as family issues became front and centre of the contest.

The embarrassing claims emerged on a day when the Prime Minister was forced to discuss publicly the prospects of her marrying her live-in boyfriend, Tim Mathieson, and Tony Abbott campaigned with his daughter Louise, 21, a day after his wife, Margie, joined him at a childcare launch, highlighting the differences between the leaders' personal circumstances.

Nine Network journalist Laurie Oakes reported last night that Ms Gillard opposed the government's plan for an 18-week paid parental leave scheme set at the minimum wage and questioned increasing the age pension by $30 a week for singles when they were discussed by cabinet.

Oakes said Ms Gillard, who was then deputy prime minister, argued that the idea that paid parental leave would be a political winner was being misconstrued.
She said people beyond child-bearing age would resent it, as would stay-at-home mothers, Oakes said.

She also allegedly questioned the $14 billion cost of the pension increase on the grounds "elderly voters did not support Labor".

Ms Gillard told Oakes that if the Liberals had allegations to make, they should put their names to them. That invited the barbed retort from Oakes that the information did not come from the Liberals. "You'll need to look a lot closer to home," he said.

Asked to comment last night, Ms Gillard issued a statement that did not answer the claim about her views on paid parental leave.

"I was very proud to be a member of the Labor team that delivered these two historic achievements - delivering a better deal for pensioners and supporting parents to spend more time with their babies," she said.

"Pensioners and families deserve more support, and this government has acted to give them that support."

The revelations blunted Labor's attacks on the Coalition's parental leave scheme, which the government claims will lead to higher prices for consumers and drive up inflation.

Oakes's report came two weeks after he put to Ms Gillard during a nationally televised National Press Club appearance an allegation that she had reneged on the deal that would have allowed Kevin Rudd to remain prime minister.

Former Labor leader Mark Latham has, in his book, previously accused Mr Rudd of leaking information to Oakes.

The Opposition Leader was asked yesterday if he thought the leak might have come from Mr Rudd. He declined to comment.

A spokesman for Mr Rudd last night denied the former prime minister was the source of the latest cabinet leak. "Mr Rudd has not made, nor will he make, comment on cabinet processes or deliberations," the spokesman said.

Mr Rudd came under further attack yesterday over his style of leadership when Labor frontbencher Simon Crean accused him of not running cabinet as "properly" as Paul Keating and Bob Hawke did. But Mr Rudd refused to be drawn into the fight.

The revelations came on a day when Ms Gillard's unmarried status dominated much of the campaign coverage.

She yesterday canvassed the possibility of marriage, while Health Minister Nicola Roxon joked that she was happy to be a bridesmaid for the Labor leader.

Ms Gillard sought to brush off the personal line of questioning.

"Decisions about me getting married are not just made by me," the Prime Minister said.

"Decisions in my personal life I will make for personal reasons."

Ms Gillard confirmed that Mr Mathieson would not be travelling around the country with her during the campaign.

But she said he would feature prominently at the party's launch, the biggest event of the lead-up to the election.

"He will continue to support me," she said. "Obviously there are things he is passionate about. He has done work in men's health. For example, he is very supportive of the men's sheds movement so he will continue to do those kinds of things."

Asked if Mr Mathieson would move into The Lodge, she said: "Oh yes; Tim and I live together. Wherever I live, he'll live.

"He does joke about 'first bloke'. I think it's a pretty cute term. You should expect that Tim will do the kind of things that political partners have done . . .You will see him, for example, at the campaign launch."

Later, after Ms Gillard announced her mental health policy, The Australian asked if Mr Mathieson would have a role in its implementation, considering the focus would be on men's health.

But Ms Gillard said the mental health policy had not been "put together because I see any role for Tim".

She also refuses to give the unemployed a long-overdue raise, and many of them DO vote Labor.

Or DID.

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Opposed to the paid maternity leave....

Heaven forbid people should have to rely on themselves to raise their own children

Tanlou76 wrote on Jul 29^th, 2010 at 11:45am:

Opposed to the paid maternity leave.... Heaven forbid people should have to rely on themselves to raise their own children

I understand the sentiment, but gone are the days when a familly could survive and thrive on a single income.  

We've all got the right to have children, not just the wealthy.

Wesley, we manage on a single income. We do not even get more than basic family assistance from centrelink. (basic cuts out at around $90 000)
I think it is more what people are happy with. We are comfortable, we have a mortgage and got rid out our credit cards years ago.

We survive on a single income too. Yes everyone is entitled to have children, but not everyone expects the tax payer to pay for them.  Then what when your maternity leave payments come to an end? Our daycare centres full of babies or grandparents who should be living a life are left to raise them. If you cant afford to take time off work to have children...dont have them

Hi Deborah, my yahoo name was tanya_burns@y7mail.com, thankfully i can shorten it here lol

We also MANAGE on a single income, but then, I earn well over the average wage which I think is about $55K.  The median wage would be much lower.
I know the idea that only those who can 'afford it' should have kids is gaining traction, and I agree to a point, but is it really in the best interests of society overall to preclude over half of the population from reproducing?  Those on lower incomes aren't necessarily inherently inferior to those on higher ones (though some are) and there is much much more to being a good person than just the amount of money you earn.

The average income is higher. Way higher. In WA it was 70k. Only place higher was ACT with 75k.

http://www.livingin-australia.com/salaries-australia

That average figure is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay skewed by mining and bureaucrat salaries in WA and ACT.
Can't find median wage figures, which gives a truer representation, but I'd place them somewhere down around 40 - 45K.  

http://www.livinginaustralia.org/Results_Income.htm

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