Tony Abbott surprised almost everybody on International Women's Day by announcing a parental leave policy of six months at full pay, up to a cap of $150,000 a year. The scheme would be funded by a 1.7 per cent tax on the 3200 Australian businesses that have a taxable income above $5 million.
According to Marian Baird, Professor of Work and Organisational Studies at Sydney University, Abbott's plan would 'catapult Australia from having no scheme at all to probably being the best scheme in the world'. So why am I, a passionate believer in the necessity of paid parental leave, not rejoicing?
Partly because the political chicanery of Abbott's u-turn sticks in the throat. But even more dispiriting is what the last week has revealed about the limits of debate in this country.
Commentary on Abbott's proposal, from all sides of politics and the media, has circulated around its economic feasibility. Those against warn of the impact on business, on growth and investment. Those in favour counter that a generous package will lift female participation rates in the workforce.
It is a stark example of how political debate and the wider cultural conversation has been reduced to the basest economic element; a coarse winnowing which prizes financial profit and discards every other concern. The same shrinkage happened last year with climate change and the ETS. The economics of any issue are assumed as its fundamental truth, and the only real question is whether it gives us more money in our wallets or less.
The attitude that children are only of concern and benefit to their parents permeates the reaction to Abbott's proposal. Take these comments from Chamber of Commerce and Industry spokesman Peter Anderson: 'The major beneficiaries of a paid maternity leave scheme, the employees, get off scot-free. They pay nothing, but the employers who are far less beneficially rewarded through this scheme end up carrying the full cost.'
This calls to mind Margaret Thatcher's notorious 'there is no such thing as society' remark. The employees are the major beneficiaries? Shouldn't that be babies, the children and adults they become, and the society they create?
Parental leave is first and foremost about babies being cared for, and allowing parents the time and money to properly do this caring. Secondly it is about allowing parents to maintain links with the work force, for their own financial and professional benefit, and for