Social Services Minister Scott Morrison has dismissed as a "First World issue" criticism by the human rights watchdog of the government's plan to scale back paid parental leave.
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The Human Rights Commission has warned Australia could be in breach of its international human rights obligations if it excludes so-called "double dippers" from the system.
The changes, proposed in the May budget, would make it harder for parents to access the government scheme if they receive parental leave through their employer.
The Australian reported on Monday that Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick had described the move as retrogressive and inconsistent with international human right laws as she warned the proposal would "exacerbate the current gender pay gap" and may "prove detrimental to women's workforce participation rates".
But Mr Morrison said on Monday he found it extraordinary the commission would "consider this a priority matter when those who would not get a second payment have an average family income of $150,000".
"A family income of $150,000 and the Human Rights Commission is addressing whether people get two payments instead of one," he said.
"I think that says a bit about their priorities."
Asked whether he considered changes to paid parental leave a human rights issue at all, Mr Morrison said: "It's certainly a First World issue, let's put it that way."
The government, which originally promised a rolled gold scheme that would pay new mothers their full wage while on leave, now wants to wind back Labor's system, which pays parents for 18 weeks at the national minimum wage.
The proposed changes would save the budget almost $1 billion over the forward estimates.
The government has defended the measure, saying government parental leave, when combined with employer entitlements, had not increased the amount of time new parents were taking off work after the birth of a child.
"There's been no change in the number of people taking 26 weeks after these measures were introduced," Mr Morrison said.
"People are taking the payment, but it doesn't seem that there's been any increase in people taking longer periods with their children.
"I think Australians have more deep concerns about this, and what we are doing is ensuring our welfare system is well targeted, focused on those most in need and ensuring that there are savings in the budget that can address the fiscal disaster."
