What I wish I'd said to Tony Abbott

I’m kicking myself right now and it’s not just because I cooked wholemeal pasta last night and my lunch is pretty ordinary as a result. I’m kicking myself because I missed an opportunity to talk to a politician about an issue that is troubling me. I went to sleep last night thinking about the Opposition leader’s mooted paid parental leave policy. I read quite a few things about it yesterday, many of which focused on his line about women of calibre. I’m going to come right out and say that I am not Tony Abbott’s biggest fan. I’m far from it. But. I disagree that the phrase “women of calibre” fits neatly into the file of Mr Abbott’s most regrettable public gaffes.

He didn’t say that only women of calibre, being the highly educated professionals whom would benefit most from his generous policy, matter. He made the point though that those women and their contributions do matter and I agree with him on that. Wholeheartedly. So I’m not slinging mud on him for that but I do have my reservations about his policy. I went to sleep last night thinking about them. Now I’ll admit public policy rarely keeps me awake at night but as a working mother on maternity leave paid parental leave and childcare are pretty jolly relevant. So last night my mind quietly worked its way around Mr Abbott’s mooted plan and my own ideas.        

With that in mind, imagine my surprise earlier today when I found myself sitting next to none other than Mr Abbott himself. I took Miss L along to the doctor for her 6 month jabs this morning and there he was in the waiting room. No minders. No phone calls. Just sitting reading the paper. I mean what are the chances? I immediately thought this is my opportunity to have a quiet word. To voice my own ingenius policy ideas opinion, hear him out and walk away with a better idea of exactly who this politician is. 

But I didn’t. I sat in silence until he was called in and have spent the rest of the day regretting it. I let my chance for a private chat slip so have to opt for a public conversation instead. I am pressed for time so please forgive me if this seems clunky. As with any public policy, the challenges is always a matter of balancing competing needs with available resources. Because resources are finite and needs are practically infinite there are always going to be winners and losers. In every area of public policy that will be the case; it’s a matter of weighing up the competing needs and assessing which plan best satisfies the main objectives. One of the main, if not fundamental, objectives of any paid parental leave scheme is to keep parents in the workforce.

As far as Australia’s productivity goes increasing women’s participation in the workforce is a huge lever. Massive. The potential economic gains of more women working are considerable. The flow on benefit from that is it generates additional resources that can then be put towards meeting other needs. It’s a constant cycle. There are obviously social benefits too but I want to focus on the economy for now.

Obviously one of the primary aims of the opposition’s policy is to keep women connected with the workforce. In this regard Abbott’s policy is specifically geared towards rewarding the professional pursuits of highly educated women. Instead of being paid minimum wage whilst they’re on maternity leave, as they’re entitled under the current government’s scheme, they would receive their full salary. It’s generous and it rewards rather than punishes the choice to have children. Balancing motherhood with a career can be a fraught exercise and anything that makes it more palatable for more women is, in my humble opinion, fantastic news. But. As I mentioned earlier, resources are limited and the choice to reward one individual or group necessarily means another individual or group will miss out.

And this is where my opinion diverges from Abbott’s policy. I wish I could engage the productivity commission to draft me up some models to prove my theory but I rang and they’re busy. Clearly I’m kidding, they’re coming back to me next month. My unproven theory is that more women would be able to participate in the workforce more easily if the short supply of childcare was addressed. 

I don’t have the current statistics to hand but I do know that in June 2011 70,000 women were unemployed or not working in Australia purely because they couldn’t secure affordable childcare. These are women who want to work, which would not only boost their personal finances but also national productivity, but can’t because they can’t get a childcare position. Because the childcare shortage is not a myth. Childcare positions, particularly in capital cities, are like gold. The waiting lists are long and real and it’s a logistical hurdle so difficult to navigate that it trips many women up on their path back to work. Ask any pregnant woman or newish mother about their plans to return to work and I can guarantee the availability of childcare will be a real concern. It’s the reason the ASX-listed pharmaceutical company CSL spent $5million opening a childcare centre for its employees in 2011.

My current situation, echoed in many families, is a case in point. Despite putting Miss L’s name down at the centre Miss I attends a year ago I’ve already been warned it’s unlikely there will be a spot when I’m due to return to work in October. And if there is a position, there’s no guarantee it will be on the same days that Miss I attends. Which, as you can imagine, isn’t particularly useful.

You might say ‘Just get a nanny then’. The trouble with that is I’m not in the highest earning tax bracket which means the cost of a nanny is prohibitive. Nannies are not currently subsidised the way childcare centres are, so at a post tax cost of $200 or more, a day, it is not a viable option for many working women. It’s a catch many senior women acknowledge. If you earn enough you can afford a nanny but there are hoards of women who will never reach the upper earnings bracket because they can’t afford a nanny in the meantime.

Equally there are plenty of women, and men, employed in jobs that will never pay enough to cover a nanny. It doesn’t mean that them working is any less beneficial for their own finances or the broader economy. It just means they need access to affordable childcare.

So that's what I wish I'd spoken to Mr Abbott about. If he wants to get more women back to work, which I believe he does, then I think  funding the provision of more childcare positions and applying the rebate to nannies would give him more bang for buck than his current plan. I'd have even let him take my tremendous idea and claim it as his own. I still will. My baby is now awake so blogging time is over. 

ps WHY DID I STAY SILENT??