Nationals senator John Williams has urged Prime Minister Tony Abbott to put his paid parental leave scheme on ice and adopt a compromise proposal to avoid a showdown with MPs.
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The scheme is deeply unpopular in some sections of the Coalition and Senator Williams, along with Senators Dean Smith, Cory Bernardi, Ian Macdonald and Ron Boswell and MP Alex Hawke, has publicly raised concerns about the policy.
Privately, some Coalition MPs are considering crossing the floor to vote against the scheme, which would pay women their full replacement wage for 26 weeks at their full wage, capped at a maximum payment of $50,000, and which also includes superannuation payments.
Mr Abbott watered down his original proposal, which would have cost up to $5.5 billion annually and delivered a maximum payment of $75,000. The current scheme, introduced by Labor, costs $1.7 billion annually and offers 18 weeks' pay at the minimum wage of $622 a week but no superannuation.
Senator Williams said the Prime Minister needed to go further to win over opponents in the party room and suggested extending Labor's scheme.
''Perhaps a compromise would be extending the minimum wage payment from 18 to 26 weeks, plus super,'' he said.
''Then when the economy is stronger and the budget is balanced and we are not borrowing any more money we can bring in the more generous scheme. That would be a sensible compromise.''
Senator Williams would not say whether he would cross the floor and vote against the scheme if it was not amended, saying he would ''look at it when it comes to the Senate'' and signalling more needed to be done for farmers.
West Australian senator Dean Smith, another Coalition MP with concerns about the policy, declined to comment on Senator Williams' proposal.
But Senator Smith said he continued to have ''great reservations'' about the current policy, even after Mr Abbott's move to cap payments at $50,000.
Senator Bernardi and Senator Boswell declined to comment.
Other Coalition MPs did not want to go on the record but variously described the policy as ''very weak'' and predicted many MPs could cross the floor and vote against it if Mr Abbott did not compromise.
The government has not set a date for the scheme to be brought to the Senate for a vote. But even if the government can secure the support of the Greens in the current Senate, just five Coalition MPs would need to defect to defeat the bill. The task will be no easier in the new Senate after July, with Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer having also spoken out against the policy.
On Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss admitted the policy was not popular in the Coalition party room but insisted it offers benefits to small businesses and farmers.
