By Andrew Laxon
political reporter
Working parents will receive a new-baby bonus in next week's Budget in the form of a taxpayer-funded parental support benefit.
National is expected to introduce the six-week payment as an alternative to an Alliance bill offering 12 weeks of employer-paid parental leave.
It is understood the Government has been
working on a benefit targeted at middle to lower-income working parents and paying about $260 a week - the level of the sickness benefit for a married couple with children.
It could cost up to $34 million a year.
However, the plan looks likely to be attacked as a poor substitute for real paid parental leave - even by some National supporters.
Parental leave has been a hot topic since last September when the minority Government was forced to let Alliance list MP Laila Harre's bill go to a select committee, as it could not rely on the votes of two paid-leave supporters, National's Christine Fletcher and Independent Ann Batten.
Since then National has flirted with everything from full taxpayer-funded leave to bigger tax credits for poor families.
It also considered dropping the unpopular rule that forces most women to leave hospital within 48 hours of giving birth.
Yesterday, the Government confirmed its intention to pass its own legislation by refusing to support select committee amendments to Laila Harre's bill, which offers all women leave at 80 per cent of their normal pay, up to a limit of the average male wage. It would cost employers about $112 million a year.
But despite drawing strong cross-party support early on, the Alliance bill now looks unlikely to pass.
It faces opposition from New Zealand First and is not due back in Parliament until a week after the Budget - by which time the Government should have already passed its own bill under urgency.
National's change of heart has been partly driven by public opinion. A National Business Review poll last month showed 60 per cent support for paid parental leave, including 59 per cent of National voters.
The 750 people surveyed preferred 12 weeks to six weeks' leave (53 per cent to 35 per cent) and narrowly favoured employer rather than taxpayer funding (40 per cent to 36 per cent) and income-related rather than flat payments (47 per cent to 42 per cent).
