Almost 50 per cent of mums to lose government paid parental leave entitlements

Sydney : Almost 80,000 new mothers will lose some or all of their government parental leave payments in a move slammed by a key consultant for the paid parental leave scheme as “the mother of all insults”. Treasurer Joe Hockey made the surprise announcement on Mother’s Day, as the Abbott government revealed its new childcare package ahead of Tuesday’s budget.The move represents a stunning turnaround from the government that less than six months ago was still promising to provide six months of paid parental leave for families, under Mr Abbott’s now-dumped “signature” policy.It will see almost half of new mothers lose access to the full $11,500 available under the federal government’s existing scheme from July 2016. Currently, mothers can access parental leave payments both from the modest government scheme and from their employer, if their workplace has one. The government scheme, introduced by Labor in 2011, provides 18 weeks of leave at the minimum wage to primary care givers earning $150,000 a year or less. But Mr Hockey told Channel Nine on Sunday that current arrangements enabled new mothers to double dip.”We are going to stop that … You cannot get both parental leave from your employer and from taxpayers.” The Treasurer said the cut would save nearly $1 billion over four years, but added there was “no specific figure” on how many people would be hit. Prime Minister Tony Abbott also declined to give a specific figure during his press conference in Sydney.