Abbott woos families with baby leave

A six-month scheme of paid parental leave and plans to extend to nannies similar pay and conditions as childcare workers are at the heart of a coalition policy being designed to woo families and female voters.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has approved the development of a policy for the election campaign that would outdo Labor's promised taxpayer-funded, 18-week parental leave plan.

Mr Abbott has changed his mind since advocating last year in his book, Battlelines, a parental leave scheme to be funded by a levy on business.

Business baulked at the proposal and, in a recent interview with the Australian Women's Weekly, Mr Abbott admitted that since becoming leader, "my thinking has moved on a bit" and "it's very important that any national scheme doesn't disadvantage small business".

It is understood he has charged shadow early childhood education and child-care spokeswoman Sharman Stone with developing a policy that would be more generous and potentially more expensive than the Rudd Government's.

Last year, Labor announced an 18-week national scheme that would pay the primary carer the minimum wage of $544 a week, which would be taxed.

The scheme would apply to families whose primary carer earned less than $150,000 a year and the money would be paid on top of any employer-provided scheme.

The scheme was announced in the May Budget but because of the global financial crisis, its start was postponed to next January. It will cost $260 million a year, less than the $450 million scheme recommended by the Productivity Commission.

The coalition scheme would go further, providing paid leave for six months, a period Mr Abbott and Dr Stone believe breastfeeding should last, if possible.

It is understood Dr Stone is also working on a proposal to formalise conditions for nannies paid by parents to care for children at home. They would be paid like child-care workers and receive employer superannuation contributions. Neither policy has been completed or costed.

Perceived to have a problem image with women, Mr Abbott plans a raft of family friendly policies designed to encourage couples to have children.