Barry Maggie: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Barry Maggie: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 25 July 2012. Volume:682;Page:3954. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
MAGGIE BARRY (National—North Shore) 
: 
 Tena koutou e te Whare. We are absolutely in agreement with many of the things that have been said in this House tonight about new parents. This is a Government that is extremely supportive of new parents and I honestly believe that the intent of paid parental leave—that it makes life easier for working mothers to take a longer leave period from their job which is good for both the parents and the baby—is an excellent thing. In fact there is considerable research to say that it is greatly beneficial to most families. We are completely in favour of that and entirely supportive of new parents. 
Let us have a look at the facts because the misguided and misinformed moronics in other parts of the Chamber have not been paying attention to the facts. This Government has put its money where its mouth is when it comes to looking after children and families. We spent $157 million providing the current 14 weeks of paid parental leave. That is just in the last financial year. We have increased the maximum paid parental leave payment by $67 a week since we took office. On 1 July of this year just over 3 weeks ago we also increased the amount of money that is available—the maximum parental leave payment available for eligible employees and for the self-employed as well. These are big gains. Look at the figures: $458 has now gone up to $475 a week. The minimum parental leave payment for the self-employed has also increased. These are excellent measures. 
Let us take a look at some of the moronic things that have been mooted in this bill: to extend paid parental leave from the current entitlement of 14 weeks to 26 weeks. But wait! There is more—there is more. Sue Moroney has actually admitted again that she wants to extend it up to 52 weeks. What does that mean? Let us just dust down the Labour abacus. Labour members do not have much call to add things up because their maths is always wrong. They are always just thinking “Oh well if we get it wrong we’ll just borrow a bit more.” Let us have a look at it using their own costings for the policy. It will cost about $450 million over the first 4 years. We do not have that money. We just do not have it. The leader says that that is thrifty. That is their idea of thrifty? I do not think so. This is not a group of people who are going to be in Government any time soon because the New Zealand public are not silly. Under Labour’s plan they would phase in this money. 
Let us take a look around the world shall we? Let us have a look at what other countries have done and what it has cost them. France pays 16 weeks of paid parental leave. It has just announced what? Spending cuts of €65 billion to eliminate its deficit. This is just what other countries pay when they have to borrow to give parental leave. Spain has 16 weeks’ parental leave and a debt of what? Of €820 billion. Its unemployment rate is 24 percent. This is the kind of future that Labour has got planned for our children and our families. This is Labour’s wisdom. Let us have a look at the infamous Greece: 17 weeks of paid parental leave. What does it cost it? A bankrupt economy that has just had €240 billion of bailout money from other countries. It is borrowing for unaffordable policies and it is not sustainable. 
Ireland has 26 weeks’ paid parental leave. It is cutting €6 billion from its spending. It has cut public servants’ pay—Labour would love that would they not? They would use their union block vote pretty swiftly there. And it pays about 5 percent—it has put up VAT to 23 percent. The most generous of them all the gold standard is the United Kingdom with 39 weeks of paid parental leave. Remember this is not even close to the 52 weeks that those people actually want to bring in. They want to bring it in by stealth. It is unaffordable. The deficit in the UK is so high that the Government has just announced the largest spending cuts since World War II. Well thank you Labour and the Greens for supporting these ridiculous policies. We are doing the right thing. As happens so often Labour is out of step with the times. It is cocooned. It is unaware of cataclysmic upheavals and seismic activities. 
I believe that there is a very good debate to be had on the merits of extending paid parental leave. I believe that we can do that once the books are back in surplus so we will not be joining the international examples who have borrowed to fund the extensions. This is an ill-advised bill for these times that is poorly executed and put through and I am very very glad indeed for the children of New Zealand that we are not supporting this rubbish.