Low-paid mothers are spending more time at home with their new babies thanks to taxpayer-funded paid parental leave, senior bureaucrats say.
But the federal government maintains the Labor initiative is not helping them stay home past a certain period.
The government is cracking down on so-called "double dippers" - women who access employer schemes as well as the government's 18 weeks's leave.
Social Services Minister Scott Morrison argues Labor's own research has proved wrong opposition claims the scheme was leading to women staying at home with their kids beyond those 18 weeks.
Officials from his own department told a Senate committee on Thursday that while higher-income women were not staying home longer, those who did not have access to employer leave or had poor employer contributions were spending more time with their newborns.
However, the benefit stopped at 18 weeks, because that's all lower-income women were able to access under the government scheme.
"I think the minister is quite well aware that for people at the lower end of the income scale that it is quite effective in increasing the period between birth and the mother returning to work," department secretary Finn Pratt said.
Low-income women were defined as those who earned less than $37,202 in 2012, while the better-off earned greater than $59,000.
About 34,000 women will be able to only access their employer's scheme under the end to "double-dipping", while 45,000 will have access reduced.
However, 53 per cent of women won't be affected at all by the government's changes if their employers don't offer any paid leave.
Mr Morrison told AAP the "safety net" government scheme provided leave for those not receiving it, and should not allow public sector employers and big corporates to be subsidised.
Research showed the scheme was not actually helping more new mums stay home for 26 weeks.
"The facts simply don't support Labor's case," he said in a statement.
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