A KEY election promise by Tony Abbott for a generous paid parental leave scheme was attacked by his own MPs yesterday, angry that a similar funding commitment has not been made for insurance for the disabled.
As the dust continued to settle on Labor's bitter leadership battle, Mr Abbott faced dissent in the Coalition party room from MPs concerned he was offering a $3 billion a year scheme the economy couldn't afford while the disabled would be made to wait.
Mr Abbott last month said he supported disability insurance but would only commit to the more than $6 billion a year scheme if the budget was showing a strong surplus.
Victorian Liberal MP Russell Broadbent spoke out against the parental leave scheme, which would be funded by a levy on business.
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He was joined by Liberal Senator Sue Boyce, a past president of the Down Syndrome Association of Queensland, who also raised questions about the parental leave scheme, which will pay women up to $75,000 maternity leave.
Mr Abbott gave what was described as a spirited defence, telling MPs maternity leave of 26 weeks at full pay with a cap at incomes of $150,000 was a right for women.
He said the scheme was "a workplace entitlement, just the same as sickness and holiday pay".
Mr Abbott added that, for working women, it should be "fully funded as opposed to taking a great leap back to the era of Hills Hoists".
Dissent broke out after Mr Abbott had praised the collegiality of his MPs in the wake of the Labor leadership crisis.
Liberal MP Sharman Stone defended the scheme, which also incudes superannuation, in contrast to the government's, which pays leave at the national minimum wage of $589.40 a week and does not include super.
Families Minister Jenny Macklin seized on the internal criticisms, labelling it a "Richie Rich" parental leave plan.
"The Coalition is so deeply divided they will never deliver Tony Abbott's pie in the sky scheme, which he plans to fund by whacking a great big new tax on Australian businesses," she said.
"This Labor government delivered Australia's first national paid parental leave scheme more than a year ago."
The federal government has only reached the planning stages for the disability insurance scheme, which the Productivity Commission recommended should be rolled out nationwide by 2018-19.
The first payment of $10 million was announced last year in response to the commission's recommendation for the scheme, which will assist more than 400,000 disabled Australians.
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