Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has famously said:

Providing more government benefits to employed mothers than to stay-at-home ones is not only unfair but it's going to strike many people as an attack on the traditional family.

In light of his own famous comments, why is the Prime Minister cutting $6,000 to family payments and why is he slashing childcare assistance to stay-at-home mums?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am sure there are many members of this House who could be researched, and you could go back 10 or 15 years and find some statements that they have made which were sincerely made and believed then but which are no longer quite believed in exactly the same way. As I have said often enough, over the years I have listened, I have learned and, where necessary, I have changed. Frankly, when circumstances change, you should change. That is what sensible people do.

Of course I support a fair dinkum paid parental leave scheme, but it has to come in when the time is right. While dealing with the debt and deficit disaster that we inherited from members opposite is not the right time to do it. There are many things that would be desirable at this time but simply cannot be delivered because of the $123 billion of cumulative deficits and the $667 billion of peak debt which we inherited from members opposite.

This is a budget which has to be measured because we are dealing with Labor's debt and deficit disaster. It has to be responsible. There will be a clear and credible path back to surplus. Above all else, it has to be fair. Under these circumstances, it is just not fair to have well-paid state and Commonwealth public servants getting generous paid parental leave from the taxpayer in that capacity and then getting another paid parental leave scheme from the taxpayer. I have a responsibility to try to ensure that the taxpayer funds of this country are used in the best possible way at this time. Double dipping on the subject of paid parental leave is not the best investment of taxpayers' money at this time.

There was a time when members opposite cut $15 billion from family tax benefits. They thought it was fair. There was a time—it was in 2013, in fact—when Labor forced 84,000 single mums on to Newstart as part of a budget to save $738 million over four years. There was a time when members opposite froze family tax benefit part A and part B payments. This is a government which is doing what is right for these times—always has and always will.