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Greg Jericho points out that extending the scheme from 18 to 26 weeks makes it much more costly, with greater benefits flowing to higher paid workers. It is public money that hardly needs to be spent on higher paid workers as they are more likely to have a maternity leave scheme that is funded by their employer. On the question of workforce participation, the rationale underpinning the scheme, higher income workers already have a high level of attachment to work, meaning the extra spend will make little or no difference to participation levels. And in relation to funding… the 1.5% levy on profits will lead to increasing shortfalls in funding as currently company tax receipts are falling. Meaning the policy is currently underfunded.
Lenore Taylor points out that raising workforce participation among women is about more than the first 26 weeks. Addressing issues like Childcare and the costs associated with the many years that follow in a child's life are also important. Which is why their plan to remove the school kids bonus non-sensical and counter-productive. As Lenore suggests, unless there are more big spending policies to follow, Abbott's PPL scheme is just an electoral bribe.
In contrast Labor has announced that it will be rebating some childcare costs and of course keeping the school kids bonus.
And despite insisting that Big business will pay some of the costs, Robert Gottliebsen points out that those really paying will be all Australians who own shares or managed funds, as this will reduce the size of dividends that companies will be paying. This will have a disproportionate effect on older Australians and self-funded retirees who will have more of their money in this area, and will be relying more heavily on the the income it generates.
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It is also interesting to note that the Coalition's maths on this scheme has already been shown to be faulty. Modelling by the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) shows that the economic benefit Abbott claims is double the likely benefit.
The Coalition hasn't funded their inequitable PPL scheme, it doesn't have the economic benefits they claim, it won't have the positive social effects they claim, and it doesn't have the support of those within the Party, or among the broader Australian community.
If their policy and economic ineptitude wasn't so alarming, you could call it a joke.
The last thing Australia needs in these challenging economic times is a bad dose of Hockeynomics!
by Mark Enders