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Prime Minister Tony Abbott, seated beside UN Women's Donelle Wheeler, greets Opposition Leader Bill Shorten during the International Women's Day parliamentary breakfast. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has urged ''progressives'' to cast politics aside and embrace the Coalition's paid parental leave scheme as a watershed moment for feminism in Australia.

Mr Abbott spoke about his own conversion to paid parental leave at an International Women's Day breakfast in Canberra on Tuesday, comparing it to US President Nixon's historic 1972 visit to communist China.

''I believe a fair dinkum paid parental leave scheme is an idea whose time has come,'' Mr Abbott said. "Just imagine if a progressive had come up with this idea. The usual suspects would have been cheering and saying: 'About time.'

But because a conservative has come up with this idea so many people are saying there must be something wrong with it.

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"Let's drop this silly guilt by association and let's get on with something which is unambiguously good for the women of our country, for the families of our country and for the economy of our country."

Mr Abbott said he opposed paid parental leave as a minister in the Howard government but his views changed after considering what would be best for his three daughters.

''It is a little disconcerting when a conservative, when a traditionalist such as myself, comes up with something which is not regarded as a conservative and a traditional position,'' he said.

"It is a bit like when Nixon went to China, conservatives thought: 'My God, has he suddenly abandoned the faith?'" he said. "Progressives thought: 'My God, is China no longer a progressive country?' The truth is this was a historic breakthrough. This was one of those moments when people from all sides of politics needed to realise that a watershed had been reached.''

Originally posted here:

Tony Abbott compares his change of heart on paid parental leave to Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to communist China