Low paid workers $10,000 worse off under Turnbull parental leave cuts: research
Date
January 14, 2016
Sydney Morning Herald
New parents in low-paid jobs stand to be $10,500 worse off under a Turnbull government paid parental leave plan intended as a compromise on cuts proposed by Tony Abbott, according to new university research.
The research, commissioned by women's group Fair Agenda and conducted by the University of Sydney's Women and Work Research Group, shows mothers who work in healthcare, teaching and retail could lose between $3942 and $10,512 under the compromise policy.
In the 2015 budget, the Abbott government unveiled changes restricting 80,000 new mothers from "double dipping" by accessing both employer and government parental leave schemes.
Critics say the cuts to paid parental leave will push mothers to return to work too early.
The unpopular proposals were modified by Social Services Minister Christian Porter in December after they were rejected by the Senate crossbench. Under the new version, the weeks of paid leave from the employer are deducted from the government's 18-week scheme.
Under the dumped policy, the cut was based on income - capping the payments at the equivalent of 18 weeks at the national minimum wage.
Fair Agenda said despite the Turnbull compromise, mothers with employer-based schemes will still miss out, with a reduction in the weeks of government-paid leave they can access.
According to the modelling, the worst hit example is a part-time teacher in South Australia, who loses $10,512 in payments.
A mother working in Woolworths in Tasmania, having her first child, loses $3942. A full-time ambulance worker in Queensland is stripped of $9198 and a part-time nurse in Victoria misses out on $6570.
Fair Agenda said the cuts - intended to take effect from July this year - amount to a cut of four to six weeks of average living costs and leave parents with government-provided paid leave for only half the 26 weeks it is recommended they have with their child for health and welfare purposes.
"Paid time at home is vital to making sure working parents can afford to give their baby the best start in life in those precious early months," said Renee Carr, the group's executive director.
"The government want to drastically cut the paid time at home available to 80,000 new parents, leaving many without support after their baby's first 18 weeks."
Carr said women in low incomes are hit especially hard and that the proposals will prove as unpopular as those in former treasurer Joe Hockey's 2015 budget.
The research group predicts changes would prevent women from spending critical time with their new child, increase financial pressure, adversely affect the health and welfare of babies and increase demand on an already strained childcare system.
Professor Marian Baird, co-author of the report, said that any undermining of the "important and positive" PPL system will see new mothers drop out of the workforce or leave their children in care to return to work too early.
A spokesman for Mr Porter told Fairfax Media that the government is "still in good faith negotiations with the crossbench on PPL policy."
"Any analysis is hypothetical as detail of the policy has not yet been announced."
Labor's Jenny Macklin said: "The government's so-called compromise is nothing more than a con and a cut that will leave thousands of new parents worse off.
"The Liberals are still treating new mums like they did in the budget, when Scott Morrison called them rorters and double-dippers.
"These cuts will mean thousands of new mums will be forced to live on less, and spend less time at home with their newborn babies.
"This Liberal Government's record on paid parental leave has been nothing short of atrocious."
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