The Prime Minister's offered up his sympathy to the tens of thousands of Australian mothers who would be impacted by his government's proposed changes to paid parental leave.
"We are sympathetic, we're fathers, we're husbands," Malcolm Turnbull told reporters in Rockhampton.
"In so far as men can understand these matters, we are absolutely understanding and sympathetic."
The Commonwealth currently offers four months, or 18 weeks, leave at the minimum wage in addition to employer schemes. The government wants to stop mothers claiming from both the government and their employer.
The move to end so-called 'double dipping' was first introduced under former Treasurer Joe Hockey last year but failed to get enough support in the senate.
It would save the budget $1.2 billion.
Analysis on the changes by the University of Sydney Business School shows it would result in financial losses of between $4,032 and $10,752 for new mothers.
Nurses, teachers and retail workers would be the hardest hit.
"We firmly reject the idea that it's 'double dipping'."
"Women who are already on lower salaries but receiving modest payments from their employers will actually be affected quite adversely by these," report co-author Professor Marian Baird told SBS.
Professor Baird says the scheme was initially introduced to allow mothers to stay home with their babies for longer.
"We firmly reject the idea that it's 'double dipping'. The scheme was designed that way to allow employers to contribute and the government to contribute."
Labor and the Greens have long rejected the measure, leaving the federal government to negotiate with senate crossbenchers.
"We shouldn't ever see a set of circumstances where you have to make tough choices between having a family or earning a proper wage," Opposition Leader Bill Shorten told reporters in Melbourne.
Key crossbenchers have expressed they are willing to support the 2015 budget measure as long as it does not impact on women who are already pregnant.
The government was hoping to roll out the changes from January 1, but Senator Nick Xenophon says a start date before October next year would be unfair.
"The January 1st start date has caused much angst and distress amongst expectant mums," Senator Xenophon told reporters in Canberra.
