The allegation in today's "Sydney Morning Herald" that working women are under attack by the Coalition Government is a complete misrepresentation and distortion of the facts.
I was asked by Alan Jones on July 10 whether the Government would consider further initiatives to encourage greater choice for parents between being in the workforce or for one parent to stay at home, particularly to look after children.
In the course of the interview I said that the Government had already made a start in this direction with the family tax initiative for the first time reversing a trend of depriving families of a choice on whether one or both parents work.
It was Mr Jones who used the figure of 200,000 in his question on working parents.
As is clear from the transcript my remarks were an endorsement of the Coalition principle of giving choice to families.
The Herald report wrongly and unfairly described a policy designed to promote choice for parents as an attack on working women.
11 July 1997