Small business support for Abbott’s paid parental leave plan
9/03/2010
Tony Abbott’s proposed plan to introduce a national paid parental leave scheme has received support from the nation’s peak small business body today.
Jaye Radisich, CEO of the Council of Small Business of Australia (COSBOA) said that Tony Abbott’s scheme would mean that women in the workforce would receive leave at their existing salary level regardless of whether they are employed by big business, small business or if they work for themselves.
“COSBOA has had a policy in support of universal paid parental leave for quite some time,” Ms Radisich said.
“This step would place small business employees on an equal footing with those employees who work for big businesses and government that already have generous paid parental leave schemes in place.
“Tony Abbott’s proposal is welcome because it supports small businesses that employ women and does not appear to shift any administrative burden to small business.
“The Coalition policy has come as a surprise to the small business community as it is very different from the type of policies related to women and work that we have seen from Tony Abbott in the past.
“Importantly, the proposed scheme applies equally to contractors and the self-employed, not just salaried employees. This is critical so that small business operators who are sole traders get treated equally when it comes to paid parental leave.”
Ms Radisich noted that a minority of small businesses could fall within the proposed $5m EBIT threshold, and may be subject to the new levy.
“We are concerned that the levy could impact some small businesses that turnover a high quantity of low-cost goods, or a low number of high-cost goods, but that don’t make significant profits. We will be discussing the question of the threshold with the Opposition.
“Obviously there is a raft of finer details for the Opposition to work out, but there’s no harm in having a healthy national debate about the proposal.
Ms Radisich said that this plan represented a good opportunity for big business to ‘give back’ to the community, and help equalise the position of all working people of child-bearing age, regardless of whether they are self employed, or employed by a small or large business.
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