Norway is proof that you can have it all Liv Nordhaug with Eira, left, Thomas and Agnes. CONSERVATIVE politicians in Australia and around the world have long derided Scandinavian countries for their high levels of taxation and lavish welfare, but Tony Abbott might find a quick visit to the far north of Europe would provide evidence to support his signature policy reform: six months of fully paid parental leave. Denmark, Norway and Sweden have in recent years achieved what might be regarded as the holy grail of a healthy economy and society: very high wages and productivity, flexible working arrangements and the world's highest rate of workforce participation, especially among women. The three countries boast workforce participation rates (working age people employed or looking for a job) of almost 80 per cent, and female participation of about 76 per cent, according to OECD figures. Female participation is a full six percentage points ahead of that which prevails in Australia, the US and Britain. In Norway, a key element of success has been the combination of 12 months' paid parental leave with universal access to childcare at highly subsidised rates. True, the ability to offer such generous benefits rests in part with Norway's high taxes, levied on oil companies and individuals alike, but the success of the system also reflects a political consensus that places a high priority on family-friendly policies, in particular, those that encourage the nurturing of children through workplace flexibility. Norway's Deputy Finance Minister, Hilde Singsaas, makes an unusual comment for someone in her role: she praises the fact that workers typically leave the office from 4pm and says while Norwegians work short hours and part-time, they work effectively. Many people, especially women, work part-time. On average we don't work a lot, but productivity is high. Most Norwegians go home to their families in the afternoon about 4-5pm. That is the Norwegian way of living -- we want people to combine working life and their family obligations," she tells Personal OZ. Singsaas says a key part of the strategy has been the mass expansion of childcare centres. We manage to combine high fertility rate and high employment among women, mainly due to the family policies of government since the 1990s. In the 1970s, there were not many kindergartens and the majority of women were housewives. We have now what we call total coverage. You have the right to access the kindergarten from the age of one year and at the same time we have parental leave for one year. This is a doubling since the end of 1980s. So this has been a high priority for the Norwegian politicians so that women can combine family obligations with working life. As a proportion of GDP, the cost of Norway's social welfare is not that much more than that which prevails in Australia; it just appears to be more targeted towards child-rearing. The benefits can be seen on the streets all over the country, especially on long summer days, when mothers with young children congregate in squares and parks. The country has the fastest population growth in Europe and, while this is partly driven by immigration, Norway's birth rate is the highest since the early 70s. Mother of three Liv Nordhaug, 35, attributes her ability to juggle work and raising three children in Oslo to the factors outlined by Singsaas. "The combination of the long maternity leave and the guaranteed admission to a kindergarten has been crucial for us deciding to have three children," Nordhaug says. If these arrangements hadn't been in place -- or had been significantly less generous -- I think we would have stopped at two. Nordhaug has worked for Norway's development agency, Norad, since 2007 and was previously involved in a project in East Timor. Her husband, Bjorn Brandtzaeg, part-owns a company that is developing a hydro-electric project in Georgia. After the birth of their first child, Eira, in 2008, Nordhaug took nine months of maternity leave on 80 per cent pay and then her husband took three months of paternity leave. When Eira went into childcare after her first birthday, Nordhaug returned to work until she went on maternity leave in 2010 just before the birth of her son, Thomas. After Thomas was born she worked about six hours a week because she wanted to finish a project, and because she had felt cut off from the office while on leave with Eira. "This solution actually enabled me to extend my maternity leave longer -- by 15 per cent -- which was great as my husband was working quite a lot and didn't have time to take any paternity leave," she says. Government support for families will enable Nordhaug to return to full-time work early next year following the birth of her third child, Agnes. This time, she is remaining in regular contact with her office after being granted permission to keep her work email account and laptop. This seems a prime example of the way flexibility can lead to high productivity, as Nordhaug will no doubt make a seamless transition when she returns to work, having kept abreast of developments. Norway's Industry and Trade Minister, Trond Giske, says the country has proved its critics wrong. Some years ago the Nordic model was doomed in international economic circles. Now after the biggest setback in Europe in 80 years, we see Nordic countries have been performing best, with the lowest unemployment rate in Europe," says the Labour Party MP. One of our secrets is the continuous adaptability in the companies and businesses -- in fact, it is quite high in Norway due to a good welfare system. You don't cling to your job in an unprofitable business because your health plan relies on this job. The workers know there will be a good school for my children, there will be a health plan and a pension even if I lose my job. Giske cites the recent reforms to the age pension as an example of the country's ability to refine its welfare system to make it more effective. The reforms introduced an automatic increase of two-thirds of a year in the pension age for every one-year increase in life expectancy. Employees can retire at 62, but this choice reduces the benefits paid later in life. He says the country has combined pension flexibility and active workforce participation. I can't imagine one country in Europe that has done such reform, and this has been done almost without conflict. No strikes, no demonstrations, sitting down in a very organised way due to the co-operation between strong trade unions and government. Norway's consensus approach sounds a lot like Australia's reform process in the 1980s and 90s, but it's a far cry from the way things are done here today. The author travelled to Norway as a guest of the Norwegian government NORWAY: 46 weeks of parental leave at 100 per cent of pay, or 56 weeks at 80 per cent of pay. Up to 14 weeks of this leave can be taken by the father. AUSTRALIA: Up to 18 weeks' pay at the national minmum wage introduced by Labor; the Coalition proposes 26 weeks" leave on full pay, to a maximum of $150,000. NORWAY: 90 per cent of children aged 1-5 attend a childcare centre. AUSTRALIA: Average attendance at formal daycare centres is 42 per cent. NORWAY: 76 per cent NORWAY: 22 per cent of GDP