Nick Xenophon has been warned he will be attacked for breaking a key election promise if his Senate team supports a new compromise on paid parental leave that would increase payments for others.
The Turnbull government is negotiating with crossbench Senators on a plan to extend the government's paid parental leave scheme from 18 to 20 weeks, a move that would see payments to parents on the government scheme increase by up to $1300.
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Paid parental leave backlash
The Government wants to rein in spending on paid parental leave to save money in the budget but there's a lot of opposition to the proposal. Courtesy ABC News, Channel 7.
The compromise would still include a crackdown on so-called "double-dipping" parents who also claim PPL from their employer.
Total entitlements would be capped at 20 weeks, meaning if a parent receives 10 weeks of PPL from their employer they would only be able to access the government scheme for 10 weeks.
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Fifty-seven per cent of families would be better off than under the current scheme. The deal would still save the budget up to $700 million because some public servants would lose access to the government scheme.
Jo Briskey, executive director of lobby group The Parenthood, said an extension from 18 to 20 weeks would be welcomed but said 72,000 new parents would be left worse off.
The policy "effectively pits working mums against each other", she said.
"To punish 72,000 parents by stripping them of time with their newborns is cruel and unnecessary and is not the way we should be dealing with the need to improve our poor paid parental leave system," she said.
"Plus, make no mistake – this is a broken promise from the Nick Xenophon Team who clearly agreed before the election to 'vote to protect the current Paid Parental Leave system and oppose any diminution of the current system'.
"Whichever way you look at it, many Australian parents voted for Mr Xenophon's Team with the understanding that they wouldn't cut PPL."
Senator Xenophon said no deal had been reached and was likely to be many months away.
Speaking on the sidelines of the APEC meeting in Lima, Peru, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said: "There's always negotiations with the Senate and the minister [Christian Porter] is handling those negotiations and we'll find out on the floor of the Senate how successful they are."
Social Services Minister Christian Porter has said it is unfair that parents on high incomes can receive combined parental leave payments worth up to $44,000 a year – more than some people earn in an entire year.