Liberal MP Alex Hawke was pushed into conflict with Tony Abbott over paid parental leave by right wing think-tank the Institute of Public Affairs, which bitterly opposes the Opposition Leader's "signature" policy.
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Mr Hawke had been told his controversial essay on the need to junk Mr Abbott's generous parental leave scheme would be part of a post-budget compilation published by the IPA.
The Institute has been angered by Mr Abbott's continuing interest in the policy that he first announced without consulting the Coalition party room before the 2010 election.
According to Mr Hawke, he was taken by surprise when his essay was "leaked out early to up the ante" in the debate.
But the IPA's intervention may have had the reverse effect, with Mr Abbott and shadow treasurer Joe Hockey forced to come out to lock in the scheme.
Mr Abbott said on Tuesday his paid parental leave policy would be implemented in the first term of his government as an important, signature reform.
In a message to his colleagues, as well the electorate, he said the policy was a sign that the Coalition "gets it" when it comes to modern women and modern families. Mr Abbott said that young women "in the prime of life" should be able to have a career as well as children.
"We do not educate women to higher degree level to deny them a career," he told reporters in Melbourne.
"If we want women of that calibre to have families – and we should – well we've got to give them a fair dinkum chance to do so.'
Liberal frontbenchers believe the chance is now lost to talk Mr Abbott into dumping the scheme, which offers new mothers 26 weeks' parental leave on full pay, up to a maximum wage of $150,000 a year. It would be funded by a 1.5 per cent levy on about 3200 of the biggest companies.
The editor of the IPA Review, James Paterson confirmed that Mr Hawke's essay had been slated for the second edition in June/July but had been "slotted in early".
He denied its release had been timed to ratchet up pressure on Mr Hockey when he spoke at an IPA lunch on Monday.
Mr Patterson said: "Alex Hawke is right about Tony Abbott's paid parental leave scheme – it is unnecessary and unjustified, especially at a time of massive budget deficits and an uncertain economic climate. The Liberal Party is supposed to be the party committed to smaller government, but the tax increase to fund this generous welfare program will only increase the size of government."
Some of Mr Hawke's Liberal Party colleagues thought his bold entrance into the debate must have been pre-approved by Mr Abbott but the Opposition Leader's office insisted they were taken by surprise on Monday.
"It's very unlike Alex to act in a way that is not politically strategic," said a Liberal MP.
Mr Hawke, who holds the north-west Sydney seat of Mitchell, said he had canvassed his opposition to the policy with Mr Abbott in the past.
Mr Hawke's call for the policy to be scrapped before the September election has been backed by requests from two prominent Perth Liberals for the Coalition's leadership to justify the policy.
Veteran backbencher Dr Mal Washer has asked Mr Abbott and Mr Hockey and finance spokesman Andrew Robb to "explain if this is still a good idea" given the "dire straits the Labor Party has got us into with its fiscal mismanagement".
Fellow West Australian MP Dennis Jensen said he was worried about the cost of the scheme, as the levy on big business to fund it could cost jobs and affect prices. "There are a whole lot of potential unintended consequences which would eventuate from this which I don't think have been adequately looked at and addressed," he said.
Mr Hockey had earlier mounted a passionate defence of the parental leave scheme, branding Mr Hawke a lone voice in wanting it dumped and declaring that the Coalition was "absolutely committed" to the policy, which would boost female participation in the workforce, increase productivity and deliver a "massive benefit" to small business.
"Tony Abbott, and our policy, is the only one that gives small business exactly the same platform as big business - and, importantly, small business doesn't have to pay it," he said. "That's why it's important. It's a leveller, an opportunity.'
With Judith Ireland and Michael Gordon
