Stanford EricaERICA STANFORD (National—East Coast Bays): Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. I'm very happy to take a call on this the third reading of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Bill.I would just like to start by saying what a great thing paid parental leave is. It has revolutionised the way that families operate since its introduction in 2002. I was lucky enough to have paid parental leave for 14 weeks for both of my babies. It was a wonderful time to bond with your baby get to know them and see those first milestones before you have to head back to work.What I really like thinking about are the women who are testing positive right now for pregnancy. They're probably around about nine weeks. They will be waking up tomorrow knowing that they will have this paid parental leave extended. I think that's really awesome. People are just finding out usually at about eight or nine weeks that they're pregnant and they'll be waking up tomorrow going Wow! Isn't that wonderful. I'm going to be entitled to that extra leave." I think that's a really awesome thing to think about which is why we and I support this really really good bill.I say "really really good" and not "great" though because I believe that the Government has missed a trick. Look we've been over this many times and I in fact have talked about it. I'm not going to talk about it at great length right now. But obviously that trick that they missed was the fact that they haven't allowed flexibility for two parents—be they a mother and a father or two mothers or two fathers—to take that leave at the same time whether or not your children are sick whether or not your wife is sick. Indeed I was sick when I had my first child with pre-eclampsia and then HELLP syndrome. I was terribly sick in fact. I spent a long time in hospital and then had to have my husband look after me when I went home. We were fortunate to be in the position to be able to do that but there are many families who aren't.I'm not sure why the Government missed this opportunity. We can only speculate. Perhaps it was because they were disorganised. Perhaps it was because it was under urgency. I don't know. But it is a brutal combination to be disorganised and have time pressure put on you. It forced this side of the House to put up a Supplementary Order Paper which was voted down. All we heard at the time from Mr Lees-Galloway was that it was difficult it was tough—we didn't hear any particular details around that.But I did read in the paper today some of those difficulties. I have to say that none of them were earth-shatteringly insurmountable problems. They were minor wording things that could have been fixed if only there was the time available and the kind of vehicle to consider such issues. Wait a minute—there is. I may be new but I do know that there is such a thing as a select committee—there is actually. They can consider such issues. There was no reason for us to have this in urgency. There was no reason for us not to be able to give two parents the right to bond with their child at the same time.Mr Lees-Galloway stood up today and talked about families and parents who now won't have to worry about putting food on the table. They won't have to worry about their finances. They won't have to worry because of this extended paid parental leave. But I do say that those parents who need to take leave at the same time will actually be worrying about putting food on the table. They will be worrying about their finances because one of them will have to take unpaid leave to do that.While we support this good bill we do make the point that it's not a great bill. It was a huge missed opportunity by Mr Lees-Galloway and that's a big shame. But congratulations to those mums who are nine weeks pregnant. I hope you enjoy your extended leave. Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker."