Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Social Services, Senator Fifield. My question is in relation to the government's decision to fund its new childcare package by cutting family payments and access to paid parental leave. Yesterday, mothers around Australia were shocked to wake up to the news that Joe Hockey's Mother's Day gift to them was to strip them of their PPL benefits. The government's stunning backflip on PPL will mean that half of all new mothers will lose up to $11,500 a year from July 2016. Can the assistant minister please explain how he expects families to manage losing thousands of dollars, ripped from their family budgets?