govt has come though today well, page-13

DTrad

Another Liberal construct designed to sway the gullible. If you say it often enough it must be true. The party is not in turmoil and the reasons advanced such as looking after the children are perfectly legitimate.

Only a Tory cheerleader would deny that MP's have the right to choose another life when the time is deemed right.

This from Amy McNeilage in The Age

TO BE appointed Australia's first female attorney-general was a dream come true for Nicola Roxon. Yet just over a year in the job, and at the peak of her career, she has decided to call it quits. She wants to spend more time with her seven-year-old daughter, an emotional Ms Roxon told reporters in Canberra on Saturday.

It was a difficult decision, over which she said she was ''very torn''. If she stuck around beyond the election, her daughter would be in high school by the time her term ended.

The announcement came as a shock to many. But it is a predicament most parents in full-time work can relate to.

Just moments after Ms Roxon stepped away from the podium, Nareen Young, the chief executive of Diversity Council Australia, tweeted: ''There's not a mother in the paid workforce who doesn't understand the factors that have impacted Nicola Roxon's decision.''

Women with young children are a particularly rare breed in federal politics. Finance Minister Penny Wong has a one-year-old daughter and the Minister for Health, Tanya Plibersek, is mother to three young children.
Fairfax columnist Jane Caro attributes their scarcity, at least in part, to the gruelling demands of the job: ''Sitting hours are ridiculous.''


Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/mothers-can-relate-to-roxons-decision-20130202-2drjx.html#ixzz2JmtvLg1s