AUG 18, 2015
The Community and Public Sector Union has called for the wholesale rejection of the Abbott Government’s proposed changes to the PPL Scheme in its submission to the Inquiry into the Fairer Paid Parental Leave Bill.
The CPSU, other unions and parenting groups are meeting with key cross-bench Senators to argue for the Senate to reject the changes to Paid Parental Leave.
In the submission, the CPSU has dispelled the myth being perpetuated by the Federal Treasurer and senior members of the Government of new mothers in the public sector being fraudulent, highly paid ‘double-dippers’.
Union research shows that 44.5 per cent of new mothers in the public sector accessing paid parental leave earn less than average weekly ordinary time earnings. This is well short of the Federal Treasurer’s claim that “it's mostly people who go on parental leave that earn more than $90,000 a year."
The breakdowns show that 41.2 per cent of public sector women taking paid parental leave earned between $61,512 (APS3) and $69,239 (APS4) and a further 33.2 per cent earn between $74,331(APS5) and $86,844 (APS6).
CPSU National Secretary Nadine Flood said: “What the Abbott Government is proposing for the nation’s universal paid parental leave scheme would be a retrograde step that would leave thousands of women and their families financially worse off.”
“The average woman working in the public sector that has been the subject of this unfair and vicious attack by the Abbott Government is young, starting out on their career and earning around $69,000 a year – exactly the type of person paid parental leave with an employer “top-up” is designed to assist.
“The Government has done a complete 360 on paid parental leave – it has gone from bitterly opposing a universal PPL scheme, to proposing a very generous scheme at two elections, to now wanting to rip the existing PPL away from new mothers.”
Ms Flood said that only an all-male expenditure review committee could fail to see that forcing 70,000 women with newborn babies back to work sooner would put a massive squeeze on childcare places.
“Our estimates, based on ABS and Productivity Commission data, show this retrograde policy could create a shortfall of over 13,000 childcare places, with another 19,000 forced to find family or informal care.
“Where is the Government's modelling on the impact of these changes? They have already admitted in Senate Estimates there is virtually none.
“All the evidence, both domestic and international, highlights the benefits to new families and the economy of providing parental leave up to a minimum of 26 weeks to mothers with newly born babies.
“The proposed changes to the PPL should be wholeheartedly rejected by the Inquiry because they simply make no social or economic sense.
“The reality for a woman working in the public sector, who has a new born baby, is that they need access to both an employer-provided scheme and the universal PPL scheme to allow them to have anything close to the minimum 26 weeks that is recommended,” Ms Flood said.
The Community and Public Sector Union has called for the wholesale rejection of the Abbott Government’s proposed changes to the PPL Scheme in its submission to the Inquiry into the Fairer Paid Parental Leave Bill.
The CPSU, other unions and parenting groups are meeting with key cross-bench Senators to argue for the Senate to reject the changes to Paid Parental Leave.
In the submission, the CPSU has dispelled the myth being perpetuated by the Federal Treasurer and senior members of the Government of new mothers in the public sector being fraudulent, highly paid ‘double-dippers’.
Union research shows that 44.5 per cent of new mothers in the public sector accessing paid parental leave earn less than average weekly ordinary time earnings. This is well short of the Federal Treasurer’s claim that “it's mostly people who go on parental leave that earn more than $90,000 a year."
The breakdowns show that 41.2 per cent of public sector women taking paid parental leave earned between $61,512 (APS3) and $69,239 (APS4) and a further 33.2 per cent earn between $74,331(APS5) and $86,844 (APS6).
CPSU National Secretary Nadine Flood said: “What the Abbott Government is proposing for the nation’s universal paid parental leave scheme would be a retrograde step that would leave thousands of women and their families financially worse off.”
“The average woman working in the public sector that has been the subject of this unfair and vicious attack by the Abbott Government is young, starting out on their career and earning around $69,000 a year – exactly the type of person paid parental leave with an employer “top-up” is designed to assist.
“The Government has done a complete 360 on paid parental leave – it has gone from bitterly opposing a universal PPL scheme, to proposing a very generous scheme at two elections, to now wanting to rip the existing PPL away from new mothers.”
Ms Flood said that only an all-male expenditure review committee could fail to see that forcing 70,000 women with newborn babies back to work sooner would put a massive squeeze on childcare places.
“Our estimates, based on ABS and Productivity Commission data, show this retrograde policy could create a shortfall of over 13,000 childcare places, with another 19,000 forced to find family or informal care.
“Where is the Government's modelling on the impact of these changes? They have already admitted in Senate Estimates there is virtually none.
“All the evidence, both domestic and international, highlights the benefits to new families and the economy of providing parental leave up to a minimum of 26 weeks to mothers with newly born babies.
“The proposed changes to the PPL should be wholeheartedly rejected by the Inquiry because they simply make no social or economic sense.
“The reality for a woman working in the public sector, who has a new born baby, is that they need access to both an employer-provided scheme and the universal PPL scheme to allow them to have anything close to the minimum 26 weeks that is recommended,” Ms Flood said.
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