Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

What this government wants to do is establish fairness. It is not fair that the staff of the member who just asked this question get access to paid parental leave at their wage and people working as shop assistants in milk bars, in the small businesses of country Australia do not. What I want to do is to ensure that there is fairness across urban and regional Australia by ensuring that every Australian gets access to a fair dinkum paid parental leave scheme. I know that members opposite are disappointed that they did not have the guts to think of this and put it forward as policy.

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