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The Forum > Article Comments > The case against paid maternity leave > Comments

The case against paid maternity leave : Comments

By Leon Bertrand, published 25/6/2008

Those who believe in paid maternity leave being forced upon businesses and taxpayers should stop and think about the real effects of their policies.

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MiA:

"That sounds like the kind of Australia I want to live in! One overrun by people with no connection to my culture. What is Australia anyway?"

In case you hadn't noticed, Australias birth rate has been below the replacement rate for some time (see here http://demographics.treasury.gov.au/content/_download/australias_demographic_challenges/images/adc-13.gif) so us taking kids (and their families) is nothing new. We've been doing it for decades.

"The state is US. Its whatever we want it to be. Since you think that children are unimportant, you should stop accepting any services from any person younger than you this minute! Can you survive without other people's children doing things for you?"

What a silly thing to say. As per above, we've been importing kids (and their families) for years and we can continue to do so.

I say again, if people want to have kids then that's their business. It doesn't mean that society should subsidise that decision.
Posted by BN, Wednesday, 25 June 2008 11:44:28 AM
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I suspect that there will be other significant reasons for the following but I do wonder what impact the increased talk of paid maternity leave has had on the totals.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23856032-5013404,00.html

"The job losses were almost entirely caused by a reduction in the employment of women, and were concentrated in NSW."

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/money/story/0,26887,23867159-5015810,00.html

"Almost 20,000 jobs were lost last month, with women taking the full force of the cuts. Of the 19,700 jobs lost, 19,600 were female workers. "

R0bert
Posted by R0bert, Wednesday, 25 June 2008 12:31:09 PM
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"The former pay LOTS and LOTS of TAX! Why should they not see benefit from the tax money they contribute to our system."

That's a novel argument. I always thought the rich paid proportionately more tax because they could afford to. That's the principle behind the progressive tax system.

The idea that because you pay more tax, the government should pay you greater subsidies is incompatible with the values on which our society was founded.
Posted by grn, Wednesday, 25 June 2008 1:22:27 PM
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Capitalism has individualised what is essentially (or should be) a communal activity, the raising of children.

It does this becaase its production process is geared around the extraction of surplus value (eg profit) from workers. Individualising childcare to a family unit means the workers in that family bear the costs of child raising. The bosses benefit because the surplus value we create is larger.

I think however that maternity leave will spread across the workplace now that big firms like Wollies and Coles have adopted such plans. SMEs will be at a competitive dsiadvantage.

Of course the real driver for maternity leave is the ongoing changing nature of the workforce and women's participation in it. Lack of maternity leave is an effective barrier to participation so it is socially just to have some form of universal maternity leave.

I suggest those earning more than $100,000 per annum (evidently the new rich) pay a special maternity leave tax to help fund a universal maternity leave scheme. All businesses could also pay the levy.

Indeed a windfall tax on the resources sector alone is probably enough to fund the ACTUs' scheme of six months on the minimum wage.
Posted by Passy, Wednesday, 25 June 2008 1:44:00 PM
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michael_in_adelaide,

1) That's dumb though. People don't have children to help society. People will still have children if you don't pay them.

2A) Paying women to stay at home is the reverse of encouraging them back to work. If they want that new TV, they will have to get a part time job if they cant use the Baby Bonus to pay for it.

Passy,
' Lack of maternity leave is an effective barrier to participation.
'
How?
Why would a woman not re-enter the work force because she is not being paid to stay at home? It doesn't make sense. If you need money and the government doesn't give it to you, you go to work. If the government gives it to you, you stay at home.
Posted by Usual Suspect, Wednesday, 25 June 2008 5:07:43 PM
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Michael in Adeliade makes some valid points. The children that we women who put our life on the line to produce will be the future workforce of Australia, your future doctor, lawyer or policeman. So as a mother who is expecting my fourth child, I know the pain & agongy of having children.

Our obstertricians charge a small fortune due to the minority who always want to blame the doctor for some problem.I could have sued my first doctor after my first son died in utero. If you had seen the bruising on my arms some might have employed a lawyer to justify the anger of loosing a baby. We choose to accept the hand of nature and I was grateful to be alive. Mind you I nearly died from a massive haemorrhage.

What we really need is a cap on the cost of living so that we as women can have the right to raise our own children without being robbed of this right by the rising cost of fuel, food, government, society and financial costs thrust upon us. Wait till the carbon trading system is introduced into Australia.

Paid maternity leave must benefit all women who give birth not the select few as some want to argue. This absurd idea that a mother in the home does do not work is an age old argument that feminists and a few men want the world to believe. A mother is the best person to look after her own little ones. We change the nappies, cook the food, go to the supermarket, manage a budget, taxi our children to many activities and the rest. Now if you want to anlyse it we have many occupations. The crazy notion we are only contributing to society if we are a taxpayer in the paid workforce fails to recognize the unpaid work that you don't have to pay extra taxes to fund while we raise the future generation of Australian workers. It is becoming harder and harder to do as we face the rising cost of living.
Posted by lunch, Wednesday, 25 June 2008 5:38:39 PM
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