Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition has no shame. They had 12 years to act on paid parental leave and what do we get? A big fat zero. This government, after two years in office, has made plain its plans for a paid parental leave scheme, one which will become active as of 1 January 2011, if those opposite choose to back it.

The Leader of the Opposition, I think, has been on a road to Damascus on this one. It seems that when our policy came out he was probably in the position of his historical view of paid parental leave, which is not on his dead body. That was his historical principle position but something happened on the road to Damascus and he discovered paid parental leave. The second evolution was that he said, ‘If there’s going to be one, there’ll be no new taxes.’ How long did that position of principle last? Four weeks, and then that one was canned as well. Thirdly, he came out with a position which delivered his paid parental leave scheme which says that certain income earners will get something like $2,800 a week in exchange for average families having to pay increased prices for bread and increased prices for petrol through his great big new tax on everything.

See this speech in context