Paid parental leave and the possibility of structural change

[Extract] Tony Abbott’s proposed paid parental leave scheme has been widely debated. Kate Galloway analyses the arguments that are being made for and against it and argues that the scheme is only one part of a much bigger project.

The announcement by the Leader of the Opposition of a ‘generous’ paid parental leave (‘PPL’) plan has reignited a heated debate around both the idea of PPL and the method of achieving it. It seems that almost no one can agree on how it should be paid or in fact whether we should have such a scheme at all.