Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

And public servants can double dip. But, Minister—and this is where the logic fails in the argument that you put to me—you say that big business already has a very generous paid parental leave scheme. Maybe big business should have a look at their schemes. And why isn't the Public Service having the same sort of Paid Parental Leave scheme as every small business and every other Australian has? It is not brilliant, but it is a start.

We will get the economy back into the black. We will get it powering ahead. I know our government will do that, because we have the right policies and the right philosophy to do that. And we have done it before. It is a continuous cycle, be it at state or federal level: Labor gets in and smashes the economy; Liberals come back and improve the economy. We know that that is going to happen. And, when we have done that, then—perhaps instead of giving tax deductions—we can look at a properly funded, very good Paid Parental Leave scheme. And I would be the first to support it.

But arguing that big business is already doing that, and then giving them a cut in their income tax so that they do not then have to use their own funds to do their own Paid Parental Leave scheme, and then putting the 1½ per cent back so that we have this universal Paid Parental Leave scheme—don't you see that it just doesn't make sense? I have tried. But, with Labor supporting your proposals and, I think, the Greens, too—I cannot take this anymore. I do thank you, Minister—