The idea that an employee is paid money when they are not at work is an oddity of our system. This government's PPL is overly generous, unaffordable and comes at the cost of health, disability and other important services.

Better as a society we look at why people cannot afford to live for a short time on one wage and why housing prices and ensuing debt now make up a much larger chunk of our wage than previously.

Governments of all persuasions are so stuck on the idea of continuous growth and productivity to the detriment of other values and social factors which are largely ignored and are treated with bandaid measures.

Loved the responses. Thank you. There are so many things going on that I cant help but think 'what the?'. Is the country suddenly in the black. The baby bonus, well that caused a baby boom. Particularly girls in the late teens early twenties. ' Lets all get pregnant, get $7,000 (i think) for free, leave school and play adults. It would be interesting to see how many homeless young single mothers resulted from that. The excitement has gone, money gone, single mothers pension, housing commission flat.Free child care, health care card. What was the actual purpose of the whole idea, who was the incentive moneys intended target? What now is the incentive to get a job? Hopefully not all bad outcomes.
Oh more extra money to hand out. Aged pensioners, maybe aged care workers. Still on $20.00 an hour with all that responsibility. No lets give paid maternity leave. Fifty percent of their annual wage. Even though the expecting couple have painstakingly planned, saved and are securely prepared for the change and next step in their lives. The normal way i would have thought. What is the moral justification of the proposal of this Very generous offer to the not needy. Looking after your own and the 'life styles they have become accustomed to'? Time to get back in touch with reality. Have a look around and no not out the window. There seriously are people in genuine need. Hard working and self respecting Aussie families who would give their last dollar to help another. Battling to keep themselves afloat without even imagining asking for a hand out. Aged pensioners! From the era when the whole family worked hard, sometimes ate food that most of us would frown upon. Nothing came as a hand out and nothing was taken for granted.
Im going to stop ranting now, drained! Emotional stuff.

There should be no maternity payment - big or small.
Yuyutsu,
you got my vote for that.

bad policy that can't be afforded. Hopefully reason will win out.

Jodelie, one thing's for certain. If it was men who got pregnant, we could GUARANTEE that for the past 113 years since Federation, men would have been receiving maternity benefits. And they would have been extremely generous benefits. And rightly so.

Suze, while I understand your frustration, we have a situation whereby political parties go to elections with several policies, some their followers like, some they dislike, but to me the last election was an open and shut case, as labor had simply lost control of our borders, wasted far too much tax payer dollars and achieved far too little for me, and as it turns out many, to give them another crack, because heaven knows where we could have ended up had they been successful.

If you wish to browse my pre election post history, you will see that I was clearly opposed to this ridiculously over generous, unaffordable scheme.

As I have said, it's a shocker!

BUT!, Abbott did not win the election on that policy, in fact, im not even sure if he won it, as I would suggest labor lost it.

jodelie, I always amazes me how people like yourself are very quick to judge the rich, stating that it is unfair that they receive hand outs.

Just in case you are not aware, almost half of all tax payers actually receive more in hand outs than they pay in taxes.

So, Have you ever considered that it is they, the rich, who actually pick up the slack and pay the bills FOR EVERYONE!

So rather than give them the tall poppy treatment, perhaps people could show a little gratitude for what they actually contribute to the system and how tough life would be for the majority if they chose to not earn what they earn, or, they chose to earn it elsewhere.

Given many earn less than $30,000 per year, and pay around $300 per year to Medicare, I doubt this would cover many visits to the doctor for them and their families.

The rich make this possible so we should be grateful.

So my beef about the proposal is not about the rich, it's about the proposal it's self.