Well, it’s finally happened. The Federal Government has dumped for good their planned paid parental leave scheme which had been billed as one of their cornerstone policies running up to the last Federal election in 2013. Truth is, it was Tony Abbott’s baby (so to speak!) which many of his front bench had always been dead against.
What that means is that the current scheme brought in under Labor back in 2010 will remain in place – 18 weeks of paid leave at the minimum weekly wage (as at 4/2/15) of $640.90.
There is some conjecture as to what will happen to the proposed 1.5% tax levy imposed on so-called “Big Business” to pay for the Libs’ scheme. It’s due to take effect from 1/7/15 and is expected to fill Government coffers to the tune of $5 billion.