ELECTION 2010: Abbott changes parental leave scheme, cuts size of levy on business

Opposition leader Tony Abbott has reacted to criticism of his parental leave scheme by slashing the size of the levy on businesses that will be used to pay for the scheme.

Abbott’s scheme, which promises 26 weeks of paid parental leave for parents earning up to $150,000, will be funded by a levy on busineses with over $5 million in annual earnings.

But Abbott announced this morning that the size of the levy will be cut from 1.7% to 1.5% and the start date will be pushed back to July 1, 2012.

The cut to the levy rate and the delaying of the introduction of the scheme – the Labor Government’s 18-week, government-funded scheme will run before July 1, 2012 – are designed to appease the 3,000 large businesses who will be hit by the scheme.

By pushing the scheme back by one year, Abbott can promise these businesses that they will only have 12 months before the levy is offset by a 1.5% cut in the company tax rate that the Coalition has promised will start as of July 1, 2013.

Abbott also used the formal launch of the parental leave policy as an opportunity to make his pitch for families.

“As the father of three daughters, I’ve become particularly attached to the policy I am going to formally launch today… It is very important that my daughters’ generation doesn’t have to struggle the way their mothers did trying to wrestle with the difficult choices of work and family.”

However, Abbott’s “tweaks” to his parental leave scheme have allowed Labor to claim Abbott cannot be trusted to introduce the scheme at all.

“These latest changes demonstrate that it’s going to cost more and it’s even further delayed,” Families Minister Jenny Macklin told ABC radio this morning.

Meanwhile, Abbott is refusing to agree to Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s call for a debate specifically on the subject of the economy.

Abbott, who says Gillard earlier rejected his pre-election suggestion of three debates, only wants a new debate because her campaign is struggling.