Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I will do my best to answer both elements of the Leader of the Opposition's question in a straightforward way. We are not delaying the rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the Leader of the Opposition should not try to put fear into the minds of people with disabilities by suggesting that we are. We are not delaying the paid parental leave scheme. The coalition took that proposal to both the last election and the election before it, and of course we stand by it. It was clearly part of our policy in 2010 and it was clearly part of our policy in 2013. We think that paid parental leave is a workplace entitlement in the same way that sick pay, holiday pay and long service leave are workplace entitlements. Because paid parental leave is a workplace entitlement, it should be paid at the real wage of the relevant worker. Members of the opposition maybe caterwauling, but business will be paying for it through a modest levy to be imposed on the 3,000 largest businesses in our country.

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