from politicoz …..

paying for parental leave …

Tony Abbott spent yesterday on the Great Ocean Road, announcing a policy to fill potholes. His time would have been better spent repairing the damage caused by his signature paid parental leave scheme – or, more accurately, the failure to explain how it will be funded.

Writing in the Australian this morning, Paul Kelly summed up the views of many: "The lack of transparency is contemptuous. Abbott says his policy is fully funded by the Parliamentary Budget Office yet he refuses to release such details for his biggest single policy of the election ... no inquiry, no report and no independent analysis offers a basis for Abbott's scheme."

It hasn't been widely reported, but a large part of the funding of the PPL scheme is actually going to come from paring back tax credits for self-funded retirees.

This despite promising "no adverse unexpected changes" to superannuation.

"The great tension in Abbott's agenda is obvious," writes Kelly. "It is between his deep social policy ambitions on the one hand and his espousal of budget surplus, pro-market economic policy on the other hand. It is a conflict between social and economic policy and presages a titanic struggle in office to resolve such contradictions."

Tension, it must be said, is a polite way of describing it.

Kelly again: "If you want to know the reason Hockey looks so worried then look no further."

also …..

extravagant Abbott woos women with Whitlam …

"The paid parental leave policy, Abbott's self-declared 'captain's call', cannot be justified on economic or fiscal grounds. He rejects the model recommended by the Productivity Commission in its 2009 report, a model based on 'the best bang for the buck' and largely adopted by the former Rudd government. No inquiry, no report and no independent analysis offers a basis for Abbott's scheme. The sheer extent of Abbott's commitment to female-friendly policy is extraordinary."

elsewhere ….

shareholders will be denied franking credits if leave plan introduced …

"Shareholders will take a $1.6 billion annual hit from Tony Abbott's parental leave scheme by losing tax breaks on their dividends, sparking furious calls for the Opposition Leader to reveal the details of his plan... The biggest impact is tipped to be felt by retirees who rely on dividends for some of their income."