The ACTU has launched a scathing attack on Liberal leader Tony Abbott today with respect to his stance on paid maternity leave.
After reports that Liberal leader Tony Abbott is considering a taxpayer-funded paid maternity leave scheme, the ACTU has come out swinging, criticising the Liberal leader for his previous stance on the issue.
ACTU President Sharan Burrow said the Howard Government’s WorkChoices had undermined pay and conditions for women, and it was simply not credible that Mr Abbott believed in supporting working mothers and would actually deliver on such a scheme. She said that when it came to women in the workforce, Mr Abbott was an unreconstructed traditionalist who was now attempting to court the female vote.
“After years of entrenched views antagonistic to the interests of women, Tony Abbott is now trying to con the electorate,” Ms Burrow said.
“His real views are contained in comments he has made in recent days that housework and ironing are the role of women.
“During his years as Employment Minister under John Howard, Mr Abbott never made any attempt to introduce a paid parental leave scheme. He is on record as opposing it.”
In 2002, he told a Liberal Party function in Victoria:
“Compulsory paid maternity leave? Over this Government’s dead body, frankly.”
Can the Liberal party leader change his stripes? Or is the ACTU just an extension of the Labor party political machine?
