Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott plans to further scale back his signature policy to provide paid parental leave amid dissent from some governing Liberal-National coalition lawmakers.
The policy, championed by Abbott since before he won office in September 2013, had been intended to provide new mothers who earn as much as A$100,000 a year (US$77,620) full pay for six months.
The proposal was not passed in parliament after criticism it would not address families’ high childcare costs.
“We would be scaling it back, we would be better targeting it,” Abbott told reporters today, as he confirmed revisions were being discussed ahead of a planned announcement.
Abbott will scrap the proposal and unveil a new package of measures intended to improve childcare and support families in a speech on Feb. 2, the Australian newspaper reported yesterday, without saying where it got the information. Abbott spokesman Mark Simkin declined to comment on the report.
The Australian government has seen its popularity decline as it has backtracked on pre-election pledges not to reduce spending on schools, hospitals and the public broadcaster.
Abbott’s decision this month to grant a knighthood to Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II’s husband, has drawn widespread criticism, including from members of his own party and News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch.
“I respect the right of people to disagree with me. I understand,” Abbott told reporters on Friday, when asked about dissent over recent decisions, including the honor awarded to Prince Philip.
Abbott has twice previously flagged changes to his parental leave proposal. A planned salary threshold was lowered from A$150,000 to A$100,000 in April last year, while last month he said the policy would be revised to address childcare needs.
The Liberal-National coalition is trailing in opinion polls, while an election yesterday in Queensland State was forecast to see Premier Campbell Newman’s Liberal National Party, allied with Abbott’s federal government, lose about one-quarter of the seats it holds in the regional legislature.
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