By MIA FREEDMAN
Tony Abbott doesn’t need me to defend him. But I’m going to do it anyway.
Yesterday, he made some comments about why he remains committed to his Paid Parental Leave scheme whereby new mothers would be paid their full salary for six months, a scheme funded by a levy on big business (click here to read more detail of the coalition’s paid parental leave policy and those who are opposed to it).
Referring to tertiary educated women at an executive level who will be paid their full wage instead of minimum wage as they currently are with the ALP’s paid parental leave scheme, here’s what Tony Abbott said yesterday:
[these women are] “in the prime of life and they should be able not just to have kids, but to have careers”.
“We do not educate women to higher degree level to deny them a career,” he said.
“If we want women of that calibre to have families, and we should, well we have to give them a fair dinkum chance to do so. That is what this scheme of paid parental leave is all about.”
Did you pick the egregious word in those few sentences?
It’s this: “calibre”.
And so, that was the cue for social media – and two of my favourite ALP ministers Tanya Plibersek and Penny Wong – to turn apoplectic, with the #womenofcalibre hashtag immediately established to ridicule Abbott’s comments:
The line was this: Tony Abbott thinks only highly educated women should procreate! Tony Abbott is being sexist and classist and dissing women with low incomes! Many prominent women gleefully joined the party, amplifying the outrage on social media, accusing Abbott of denigrating women without tertiary degrees or white collar jobs.
Top Comments
Great summation Mia.
I have observed and spoken to too many young single un-employed females and even couples who have not thought of future commitments and are having babies literally to receive instant money. I won't say "benefit", as these $ fly out of the home once you have children. Whereas harder working and perhaps higher salaried and normal salaried people actually "lose" money and career time and benefits when they have children, so of course we should compensate them for this, they are helping our economy and paying taxes, and the new babies need care.
Without prejudice, we need to seriously have a bigger ratio of working mothers paid parental leave. They cannot be expected to just stay at home without some income, as most of them probably would not qualify for a government benefit, and there IS NO benefit for choosing to leave work for only 6 or 12 months to be a parent. Whereas it seems people already on benefits and little or really low income who decide to have more children, just receive more money automatically. I really think that Australian low income people should be thinking seriously at all times whether they can personally afford and fund more children, not expect the Govt; to pay for THEIR PERSONAL long term decisions.
The working women will receive a Company funded benefit administered by Centrelink for a MAXIMUM short period. They then will necessarily weigh up their decision to return to work immediately after this period, or return to work after a more lengthy period. If they so choose or need to stay with their child for a longer period, it is probably without Govt; benefits. So avoid whinging, let EVERYONE have children, we cannot expect all the working mothers to continue to help fund Centrelink, and be forced to stay with their nose to the grindstone so all the so called "poor" people are allowed to populate at whim, with little consideration for others.
How about a little give and less take out there, and think about where Govt money comes from.
I must say, "eddiesmiff", we are NOT in Canada, Quebec or Sweden or any other country, we are I remind you, in Australia, and have our own decisions to make regarding our unique countries economy. You actually sound like you are in the school yard, a lot of noise, but never listen.
Quite immature yourself. Stick your head in the sand, and keep the deficit.
For me, its GOT TO BE TONY and his party.
As an urgent matter of conscience as a mother I urge you to research what Tony Abbott has said over the years to support clerical child sex abusers and those who have protected these clerical abusers. ( Robert nestor, Peter Hollingsworth , George Pell) Not a word of support do I find from Tony for the victims. In Ballarat alone around forty people who suicided are linked to a few clerics sexually abusing them as children.