Hockey set to take post-budget pitch to Melbourne

Treasurer Joe Hockey will take his post-budget pitch to Melbourne on Friday when he addresses a Liberal Party fundraiser.

Mr Hockey is the guest speaker at a $150-a-head Higgins 200 Club breakfast to support MP Kelly O'Dwyer.

Ms O'Dwyer is due to go on maternity leave, just as the treasurer comes under fire for a budget decision to stop new mothers accessing both the government leave scheme and employer entitlements.

The move, which will save $1 billion over four years, has been described by ministers as a rort and "double-dipping".

But at least two government ministers - Mathias Cormann and Josh Frydenberg - and their partners have "double-dipped" in recent years.

Labor says women should be entitled to access both schemes because that was how it was designed five years ago.

Thousands of workers have struck pay deals for less generous parental leave schemes because the government scheme is accessible.

Labor leader Bill Shorten says the government owes women an apology for denigrating them as rorters.