
You might think that as a journalist, I will be keenly monitoring the Budget tonight. You’d be mistaken.
Like millions of women around Australia, I will be juggling the long commute back to my suburban house where the daily battle of bed and bath time awaits, a daily re-enactment of the War of the Roses. My babysitter will be coming over, and I will be heading into the night with my heels on… but it won’t be to a Budget party.
"You would be sadly mistaken if you thought I would be watching the budget."
"The state of the economy matters!" you say. Yes I'm sure it does...to someone. But like millions of women around Australia, I am time-poor, sleep-deprived and a brutally practical person. I ain't got no time for that, and this is why:
1. We kind of already know what's going to be (not) in it. The issues that matter to me: childcare reform, education, housing affordability, Indigenous health, refugee policy: nothing I've read so far has given me the sense that the government is going to make any drastic changes.
2. It's confusing. I find the Game of Thrones plot line easier to follow than the Paid Parental Leave scheme. Is it getting rolled back, implemented, abolished? Who knows. Education? I want to give a Gonski but can't . Someone just tell me whether my kid will be able to attend the overcrowded local primary school in 2 years. Negative gearing >> investors >> housing affordability. The only thing I've ever invested in is a good pair of shoes.
Watch Carrie Bickmore tackle paid parental leave on The Project. (Post continues after video.)