Coalition offers six-months paid leave

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• Parental leave scheme a good fit

THE Coalition will attempt to win over family and female voters by offering six-months paid parental leave and giving nannies similar pay and conditions as childcare workers, reports say.

Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is said to have approved development of the policy in an attempt to outdo Labor's taxpayer funded 18-week parental leave plan, Fairfax reported on Tuesday.

The move suggests Mr Abbott has changed his mind since advocating in his book Battlelines last year that parental leave be funded with a business levy.

Opposition spokeswoman on early childhood education and childcare, Sharman Stone, has been tasked with drafting the new proposals.

But the paper says they could potentially be more expensive than the government's 18-week national parental leave scheme, announced last week.