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Treasurer Joe Hockey has suggested the wives of senior government ministers may have kept their husbands in the dark about whether or not they "double-dipped" with their paid parental leave entitlements.
And in an extraordinary interview, Mr Hockey has suggested his own wife doesn't always tell him about their household finances but did not say why.
The Abbott government wants to stop women from accessing the basic 18-week minimum wage taxpayer-funded scheme if they are being paid more generous entitlements by their employers. The change would affect up to 80,000 women.
But the government was embarrassed last week when it was revealed two of the ministers advocating a crackdown on new parents accessing employer and taxpayer funded parental leave had accessed both themselves.
Asked by 2GB radio host Ray Hadley why the Coalition had not predicted the media embarrassment that would follow when it was revealed Finance Minister Mathias Cormann and Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg had accessed two schemes, Mr Hockey suggested their wives may have kept them in the dark on the issue.
"Their wives may have done it and they didn't know," Mr Hockey offered.
"Can I tell you my wife doesn't tell me about … " he added before being interrupted.
Mr Hockey said he couldn't recall if Mr Frydenberg or Senator Cormann had revealed their own double-dipping.
However, Mr Frydenberg has previously publicly acknowledged applying for the taxpayer-funded paid parental leave scheme with his wife last year.
In an interview with The Australian Financial Review last November, Mr Frydenberg complained about the paperwork involved with applying for parental leave calling it his "Hockey moment", in reference to the Treasurer's criticism of red tape last year.
Earlier on Monday in an interview on Channel Nine's Today show, Mr Hockey retreated from his initial claim that accessing a taxpayer-funded scheme and an employer scheme was "fraud".
Mr Hockey appeared on 2GB in place of Social Services Minister Scott Morrison, who is usually interviewed on the Hadley program every Monday morning.
Mr Morrison instead appeared on Melbourne radio 3AW. He insisted he had never called mothers accessing two parental leave schemes "rorters".
"I have used that word 'rort' in relation to the scheme itself, not in relation to those using it," he said.
Labor frontbencher Ed Husic said Mr Hockey's comment showed he was out of touch with how families deal with their household budgets.
"Like other families in our broader community, I'm not sure Mathias Cormann or Josh Frydenberg would appreciate having Mr Hockey offering gratuitous commentary about how they should run their family matters," Mr Husic said.
"When will he he stop attacking the decisions of new mums?"
