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Tony Abbott has axed his signature paid parental leave scheme in favour of a revamped 'families package', to be developed in the lead up to this year's Budget.
The prime minister made the announcement at a speech at the Press Club this week in response to advice from the Productivity Commission and 'mums and dads around Australia'.
"…with our current budget constraints, the better focus now is on child care if we want higher participation and a stronger economy."
Mr Abbott's much lauded scheme didn't have many supporters from within the government and it wasn't widely popular with CareforKids.com.au community members either.
In last year's CareforKids.com.au Child Care and Workforce Participation Survey a full 56 per cent of you said the current scheme of 18 weeks at the minimum wage was appropriate while 58 per cent of you said Mr Abbott's proposed 6 month at full pay up to $150,000 was over the top and or too expensive for business.
In his speech Mr Abbott said the key focus of the new 'families package' would be to reform and improve the current confusing system of multiple child care support payments.
"[This will] provide more money in parents' pockets to help them with their child care costs when they want to go back to work," he said.
Social Services Minister Scott Morrison, the minister now responsible for early childhood education and care policy, confirmed the government is turning its focus to child care.
"We're not proceeding with the paid parental leave scheme that has been advanced because the priority is to get the focus on child care to ensure that we have a child care package," Mr Morrison told ABC radio.
The 2014 Child Care and Workforce Participation Survey identified the following four changes which would improve the life of Australia's working parents:
- Making child care tax deductible
- Encouraging employers to offer more opportunities for flexible work
- Greater regulation of fees to improve affordability
- Expanding subsidies to other care providers such as grandparents, preschools and nannies.
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