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August 23rd, 2013 
Peter Nolan
Updated
Former Coalition finance minister Nick Minchin says he cannot see how the Coalition’s paid parental leave scheme will pass the Senate intact.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has described the scheme as his “signature” policy and says he is determined to see it become law.
But if the Coalition wins the election, it is unlikely to have control of the Senate, meaning it would need the support of other parties to pass the policy.
The proposal has faced a barrage of criticism from the Government, with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd describing it as “unaffordable, unfair and irresponsible”.
On ABC News 24 today, Mr Minchin, who retired from politics in 2011, said he believes the policy is a vote winner, but will have trouble in the Senate.
“I think it can be paid for but I don’t see how this whole package, including the tax cut and the levy, will ever get through the Senate,” he said.
“(SA independent) Nick Xenophon has said he opposes it. The Greens will obviously cut the threshold way back.”
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He says the Coalition will not win a majority in the Senate, which means the policy will not happen without compromises.
“As the former government leader in the Senate and someone who’s had to negotiate these things in the Senate, Tony is very committed to it, but in terms of the numbers in the Senate I don’t see how this package as a whole will get through,” he said.
“There will have to be compromises… [but] he will fight to get it through.”
There is also disquiet in the Coalition ranks. One National MP was quoted in this morning’s Australian Financial Review as calling the policy “a heap of shit”.
Abbott says victory would give mandate for PPL
Mr Abbott says an election win would give the Coalition the strongest possible mandate to implement its scheme.
“It’s obviously one of the key issues of this election campaign,” he said.
“If we win the election we’ll have the strongest possible mandate to implement a fair dinkum paid parental leave policy.”
He says there are plenty of critics of the scheme, but also plenty of people who support his plan.
“I know there are many people inside the Labor Party who think our paid parental leave policy is a big improvement on Mr Rudd’s,” he said.
“Unions New South Wales for one thinks that our paid parental leave policy is the way to go. I expect that if we are elected, the Parliament of Australia, both houses, will accept the mandate that we have.”
Topics:
federal-elections,
federal-government,
elections,
government-and-politics,
small-business,
business-economics-and-finance,
parenting,
family-and-children,
community-and-society,
work,
welfare,
abbott-tony,
australia
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Source Article from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-23/nick-minchin-predicts-senate-will-scupper-coalition-ppl-plan/4908872
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