‘Rock solid’ Abbott tells families to wait until 2013 for paid parental leave

Tony Abbott has today revealed that that there is no real timeline for implementing his paid parental leave thought bubble but that he wants Australian families to wait at least until 2013:

ABBOTT: We will do it as quickly as we reasonably can should we win the next election. Now, I would be amazed if we cannot do this within two years. I would certainly anticipate that it would be …

Mr Abbott has revealed he has done zero thinking on implementing his policy.

This would be an enormous blow to Australian families who have been waiting for decades for a paid parental leave scheme and are counting on a scheme to start on 1 January next year.

Mr Abbott today also made a ‘rock solid commitment’ on paid parental leave that will send a shiver up the spine of Australian families.

ABBOTT: Well, what, what I’ve said is that we have announced a rock-solid commitment to real money and real time, and it will be funded.

The whole of Australia remembers that Tony Abbott’s ‘rock solid’ commitments have all the substance of fairy dust.

As Health Minister during the 2004 election campaign, Mr Abbott famously deceived Australians by saying that his government would not increase the Medicare safety net thresholds.

REPORTER: Will this Government commit to keeping the Medicare-plus-safety-net as it is now in place after the election?
TONY ABBOTT: Yes.
REPORTER: That’s a cast-iron commitment?
TONY ABBOTT: Cast-iron commitment. Absolutely.
REPORTER: 80 per cent of out-of-pocket expenses rebatable over $300, over $700?
TONY ABBOTT: That is an absolutely rock solid, iron-clad commitment.
(Four Corners, ABC TV, 6 September 2004.)

Less than 12 months later, Medicare safety net thresholds went up in the 2005-06 Budget.

Tony Abbott cannot be trusted on paid parental leave.

In Government the Liberals refused to introduce paid parental leave for 12 years.

Now Tony Abbott is threatening to wreck Australia’s first national paid parental leave scheme.