Liberals would throw out the limited baby bonus Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey. An Abbott government would dump the baby bonus altogether - even the reduced, means-tested payments proposed by Labor, Joe Hockey has said. The wholesale scrapping of one of the Howard government's key reforms - and a policy defended by Tony Abbott until very recently - reveals how far the Coalition is prepared to go to bring the budget back to surplus. Even the Nationals, who have ardently backed the baby bonus and even called for increased support for stay-at-home mothers, seem willing to compromise. Nationals MPs John Forrest, George Christensen and John Williams all told Fairfax Media that scrapping the baby bonus was a painful but necessary measure. Their views mirror community sentiment, with 68 per cent of respondents in the latest Age/Nielsen poll supporting the government's decision to dump it. It was a good program to encourage young people to have kids, which is the nation's biggest challenge and it has to be scuttled because the current government can't find the money. NSW Nationals senator John Williams said he did not have a problem with the move, saying a bit of "pain" was necessary now to ensure less suffering later. At present stay-at-home mothers in families with incomes of up to $150,000 are paid $5000 for the birth of their first child, and $3000 for subsequent babies. Labor plans to reduce those payments to $2000 for the first child and $1000 for each subsequent child. Under the new arrangement, the threshold would be about $101,000 in family income for first child payments and about $112,000 thereafter. Mr Hockey said on radio on Monday the Coalition would "not support new spending measures from the Labor government other than those we specifically identify, and [Family Tax Benefit Part A] is not on the list." By confirming the Coalition would scrap even the lower levels of financial support, Mr Hockey is withdrawing payments from about 113,000 families, according to the office of Jenny Macklin, Minister for Families. In Perth, Treasurer Wayne Swan seized on Mr Hockey's comments, arguing the Coalition had a "secret cut agenda." "Today we've seen Mr Hockey admit that he is also going to have further cuts to family payments," Mr Swan said. Mr Hockey's announcement ends uncertainty about the Coalition's intentions regarding the baby bonus. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is understood to have argued with Mr Hockey in shadow cabinet meetings over whether the Coalition should support Labor in scrapping the baby bonus. Until last week, it appeared Mr Abbott had convinced his colleagues to keep the policy. But in his budget reply speech last Thursday, Mr Abbott said that due to a "budget emergency," the Coalition would have to implement measures that were "objectionable," including cutting the baby bonus.