SINGAPORE: The Workers' Party (WP), the country's largest opposition party, expressed encouragement following Prime Minister Lawrence Wong's first Nat
SINGAPORE: The Workers’ Party (WP), the country’s largest opposition party, expressed encouragement following Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s first National Day Rally speech on August 18. The party welcomed the announced policy shifts but emphasized the need for deeper reforms.
In their response, the WP highlighted three key announcements: the new SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support Scheme, the extension of shared parental leave by 10 additional weeks, and the prioritization of singles in Build-to-Order (BTO) flat applications.
The newly introduced SkillsFuture scheme aims to assist lower- and middle-income workers who have lost their jobs by providing temporary financial support of up to S$6,000 for six months. The WP agreed with PM Wong’s assertion that job loss poses significant risks for workers and their families, noting that they had previously called for the implementation of a Redundancy Insurance scheme in a 2016 policy paper. This call was reiterated during the 2020 General Election and in last year’s Budget debate.
Regarding the extended shared parental leave scheme, which is set to be progressively implemented starting in 2025, the WP referenced their own proposal from 2020 advocating for a minimum of 12 weeks of leave for mothers, four weeks for fathers, and a maximum of 24 weeks of government-paid leave. Sengkang GRC MPs Louis Chua and Jamus Lim reinforced this call two years later, while MP He Ting Ru pointed out in October 2020 that the current policy reinforces outdated views on childcare, emphasizing the need for equal parenting roles.
The WP also highlighted their advocacy for lowering the eligibility age for singles applying for BTO flats from 35 to 28 years, a stance included in their 2020 manifesto. In PM Wong’s speech, he announced that single children and their parents would receive priority access to BTO flats, effective mid-2025.
The Workers’ Party urged the government to expedite these policy reforms to address housing access concerns among singles more comprehensively.
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