Families Commission Seeking Increased Paid Leave for Dads

The Families Commission wants to extend paid parental leave to include four weeks for dads. Families Commissioner Gregory Fortuin defended the call for extended leave,

“Fathers think they could do an even better job if they could spend more time with their children. The main barrier to fathers sending time with their kids is work, which illustrates the need for flexible workplaces.”

Fortuin gets it right when he talks about the need for flexible workplaces and I couldn't agree more. But how the heck can you have flexible workplaces when you've got a myriad of levels of bureaucracy dictating to the employer and employee exactly what can and can't be done, and how to go about it, in intricate detail.

Maxim takes a shot at the their arch-nemesis,

While Dads spending time with their children is crucial, the policy is unaffordable and promotes the idea that we value something by putting a dollar figure on it is not a healthy attitude to parenting. Worse, they imply that parents should do what they'll get paid for.

Tripping employers up with more red tape will serve only to affect their productivity and ability to employ more staff. If hard-working business-dads are working over-time to keep their company going as a result of having fewer hours put in from their employees due to this paid-parental leave, then their children are going to suffer. Lets get rid of the Families Commission - all they are capable of doing is coming out with tired old socialist solutions to societal and family problems which run far too deep to be remedied with another few briefcases of tax-payers' money.