Drop 'unfair' parental scheme, Abbott told A major business group has pledged to lobby an Abbott government to scrap its "ill-conceived" paid parental scheme, which it says will cost large companies in excess of $100 million a year each. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has so far resisted calls from within his own party to dump his "signature" scheme, which offers 26 weeks' paid leave for women earning up to $150,000. But he is now facing pressure on two fronts, with head of the Australian Industry Group flagging a business campaign against the "extremely unfair and illogical" proposal. Speaking at a mining industry conference in Melbourne on Friday, Innes Willox said Ai Group had hoped the scheme would be dropped in the three years since it was announced in 2010. "But unfortunately it features prominently in the coalition's workplace relations policy released last week, and support for it was reiterated in Mr Abbott's budget reply speech last night," the Ai Group chief told the Australian Mines and Metals Association conference. Mr Willox said the proposed levy on Australia's biggest businesses to pay for the scheme would cost them more than $100 million a year. "It is extremely unfair and illogical to require large companies to fund a Paid Parental Scheme for the whole community when large companies typically have their own generous paid parental leave schemes," he said. If the opposition is elected, Ai Group intends to press hard to convince the new government that this policy proposal needs to be abandoned. Mr Willox said the government's existing scheme - 18 weeks leave at the minimum wage - was working well and "there is no problem that needs fixing in this area." Earlier this month a small number of Liberal MPs, led by Alex Hawke, spoke out against the scheme, labelling it economically irresponsible.