Paid leave scheme leaves mothers worse off

Peter van Onselen | October 11, 2008 THE Productivity Commission's 300-page report on paid maternity leave must have come as a shock to former sex discrimination commissioner and now NSW Liberal MP Pru Goward. A long-time advocate for paid maternity leave, earlier this year she predicted the commission would "come back with a recommendation that it be made a business-related issue". She couldn't have been more wrong. The plan proposed is for a government-funded 18-week period of leave, paid out at the minimum-wage rate of about $540 a week. Women can claim paid maternity leave or the $5000 baby bonus, but not both. Watching our politicians flip-flop during the past two weeks about whether they will be following the Productivity Commission's recommendations was a lesson in why the public is becoming increasingly cynical about... [read full story]