Changing gender roles to the fore in Aussie poll
Source: Agencies |
July 28, 2010, Wednesday
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CHANGING gender roles took hold of Australia's poll campaign yesterday as the prime minister reassured the public that her partner would move into the official residence and the opposition leader defended a pay cut for stay-at-home dads.
The media has frequently asked Julia Gillard, Australia's first female prime minister, why her partner has not accompanied her on the campaign trail.
Gillard and Tim Mathieson are not married but have lived together for the past three years in Melbourne. Mathieson, a professional hairdresser who now sells real estate, was too busy with work to campaign, Gillard said, but reassured reporters he would be performing the typical spousal duties if she won.
"You should expect Tim will do the kind of things political partners have done," Gillard told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio.
The prime minister, who deposed Kevin Rudd in a surprise center-left Labor Party revolt last month, decided not to move into the official residence unless she is elected in the August 21 vote.
Mathieson would live there, too, she said.
Gillard, who has never married, has declined to say whether they intend to marry or whether they would become the first common law couple to share the residence.
The conservative Liberal Party opposition, which is struggling to attract women voters, meanwhile, has trumped the government's paid parental leave plan, to begin next year, with a more generous proposal.
The government plans to pay either a mother or father the national minimum wage of A$544 (US$491) a week to stay at home to care for a baby for the first 18 weeks.
But a Liberal-led coalition government would pay mothers the full rate of their usual salaries to stay home with their new newborns for 26 weeks.
The policy also allows the father to stay home, but he can only claim the equivalent of the mother's salary - the assumption being that it would be the lesser of the two because Australian men generally earn more than women.
Up to A$75,000 can be claimed.
Critics have noted that the plan effectively penalizes couples that choose to have the man stay home.
Liberal leader Tony Abbott, who regularly campaigns with his wife and three daughters, made no apology for financially favoring most mothers who stay at home.
"This is fundamentally designed to give women time to bond with their newborn," Abbott said.
The media has frequently asked Julia Gillard, Australia's first female prime minister, why her partner has not accompanied her on the campaign trail.
Gillard and Tim Mathieson are not married but have lived together for the past three years in Melbourne. Mathieson, a professional hairdresser who now sells real estate, was too busy with work to campaign, Gillard said, but reassured reporters he would be performing the typical spousal duties if she won.
"You should expect Tim will do the kind of things political partners have done," Gillard told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio.
The prime minister, who deposed Kevin Rudd in a surprise center-left Labor Party revolt last month, decided not to move into the official residence unless she is elected in the August 21 vote.
Mathieson would live there, too, she said.
Gillard, who has never married, has declined to say whether they intend to marry or whether they would become the first common law couple to share the residence.
The conservative Liberal Party opposition, which is struggling to attract women voters, meanwhile, has trumped the government's paid parental leave plan, to begin next year, with a more generous proposal.
The government plans to pay either a mother or father the national minimum wage of A$544 (US$491) a week to stay at home to care for a baby for the first 18 weeks.
But a Liberal-led coalition government would pay mothers the full rate of their usual salaries to stay home with their new newborns for 26 weeks.
The policy also allows the father to stay home, but he can only claim the equivalent of the mother's salary - the assumption being that it would be the lesser of the two because Australian men generally earn more than women.
Up to A$75,000 can be claimed.
Critics have noted that the plan effectively penalizes couples that choose to have the man stay home.
Liberal leader Tony Abbott, who regularly campaigns with his wife and three daughters, made no apology for financially favoring most mothers who stay at home.
"This is fundamentally designed to give women time to bond with their newborn," Abbott said.
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