Its clear that Mr Robb knows the Opposition doesnt have the money to pay for Tony Abbotts extravagant paid parental leave scheme.
On radio yesterday, Mr Robb said:
HOST: Is it a good look for the Coalition if there are rivers of gold pouring in that youre not committing to a National Disability Insurance Scheme but you can commit to a much richer Paid Parental Leave scheme?
ROBB: We havent finalised any of our major policies. We had some that we took to the last election and thats one of them as you mentioned. Now the potential for us to spend or not spend next time will depend on this Governments, you know, what the Government does.
ROBB - ABC PM - 5 MARCH 2012
But Mr Robb has clearly since been brought back into line by Tony Abbott, saying this morning:The point that was being made yesterday was about other future policies, and was not a reference to the Paid Parental Leave policy.
ROBB ABC NEWSRADIO 6 MARCH 2012
Its not fair on Australian families to deliberately mislead them by making promises the Opposition know they cant deliver.Mr Robbs attempt to clarify his admission that the Opposition cant afford their plan is nothing more than Tony Abbott scrambling for credibility.
Just three days ago, Tony Abbott was boasting about his plan for a Rolls Royce paid parental leave scheme. Now you have his finance spokesperson the person responsible for finding the money to fund the policy saying it cant be done.
This is yet another display of Tony Abbotts recklessness the same recklessness which has led to the Coalition walking away from a budget surplus.
The Gillard Government is delivering for working families. We have already had a national paid parental leave in place for more than a year a fully-funded scheme thats benefiting 140,000 Australian families.
The Opposition cant be trusted to deliver on their promises, aspirations or signed pledges and you cant trust them to manage the Australian economy in the interests of working Australians.
