With flak coming from all directions, including from within the Coalition Government, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has dug in, explaining there will be no back down on paid parental leave (PPL) and has instead asked dissenters to “evolve” in their thinking. From The Australian:
“I know that for people who have a very traditional view of the family this has been a difficult one; I’m a fairly traditional person myself”…
“Because my own thinking on this has evolved I’m confident that other people’s thinking can evolve”…
“We are not going to be a government that promises things before the election and walks away from them afterwards”…
“It’s a fundamental principle here. Paid parental leave is about fairness for families, it’s about fairness for women and it’s in the long run about a stronger economy”…
The above comments highlight the fundamental difference between Abbott and his political mentor, John Howard.
Howard would have read the mood in the electorate and parliament and realised that PPL is not an argument that he, or the Coalition Government, can win. I mean, how can Abbott seriously argue in good faith for cuts to welfare programs, increased charges on health, and a Budget debt levy, while at the same time push an expensive PPL scheme that overwhelming benefits upper income earners and does next to nothing to boost labour force participation?
It is a marker of Abbott’s pigheadedness that he cannot admit his mistake and execute a dignified reversal.
