Lisa Wilkinson Has Blasted Bill Shorten Over His “Sexist” Comments On Childcare

Whether it’s Joe Hockey announcing sweeping cuts to paid parental leave on Mother’s Day or Mark Latham shrieking about women destroying their children’s lives by seeking help with their mental health, Australian politicians generally have a stellar track record of offending women on issues related to childcare. Now, Bill Shorten has made his own contribution to the dude-centric canon.

Yesterday, the Opposition Leader announced a $3 billion package which would raise the childcare benefit by 15 percent for low- and middle-income families. Criticising the government’s inaction on the issue, Bill Shorten said Labor would enact changes from January 1 of next year which would create more childcare services in high-demand areas and reduce waiting times for those in need. He also claimed there would be a specific focus on not-for-profit programs which provide for disadvantaged families.

Unfortunately, many are arguing he said all this with little acknowledgement of the fact Australian men are also responsible for the care of the tiny human beings they help create.

“I understand how difficult it is for the working woman with kids to work out how on Earth does she go to work if 80 percent of what she’s earning gets eaten up in childcare fees?” Shorten said in a press conference. “Where you’ve got mums working part-time or full-time, it’s the second job in the family, and frankly they’re doing a lot of the unpaid work.”

“Unlike Mr Turnbull, I see investing in childcare as helping all Australian women… Let’s face it, men in Australia rely on the women in Australia to do the childcare and to organise childcare.”

Today host Lisa Wilkinson has taken direct issue with this in a scathing editorial delivered on-air this morning.

“When Bill Shorten describes women as having the ‘second job’ and says that men rely on women to take care of all things when it comes to looking after the kids (in other words, so men can get on with doing all the important stuff), isn’t he simply entrenching a stereotype of women as second-class citizens?” she said. “Isn’t parenting about sharing responsibilities? And isn’t confirming the outdated belief that women should always be in charge of the unpaid work and therefore giving any men who still do, permission to keep thinking that way — isn’t that so last century?”

“Bill Shorten once described Tony Abbott as a dinosaur for his views on women. Mr Shorten, I would suggest it’s time to take a look in the mirror.”

Wilkinson isn’t alone in this criticism. Minister for Employment and Women Michaelia Cash yesterday labelled Shorten’s comments “outdated” and many other women have taken issue with the way the opposition leader declared the news a win for “all women”.

No idea what decade Bill Shorten is in, but for most couples Childcare is done by both men and women.

— Janine Allis (@Janineboost) June 6, 2016

Politicians tryna get dat woman vote: don't forget we aren't a homogenous group of baby farms okaaaay

— Kaitlyn Plyley (@kplyley) June 5, 2016

Alternatively, others are arguing Shorten was in fact criticising the way Australian women are loaded with the “unpaid work” of childcare (both through biological means and structural barriers in the workforce) and his message has been negatively spun as a result of unfortunate phrasing and editing.

@MarkDiStef the full answer is quite different to what the edited grab tries to show pic.twitter.com/Ha3O3L4rJm

— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) June 5, 2016

One thing we can all agree on: this election campaign is well and truly under way and if you’re currently expecting kids you should probably stay the hell away from the comments on the Today Facebook page.