Dyson Ruth: Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Dyson Ruth: Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:621;Page:16558] 
Hon RUTH DYSON (Associate Minister of Labour) 
: 
 I move  
That the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Bill be now read a third time 
. I am pleased to begin the bill’s final process for passage. This Government is conscious that balancing work and family life is a critical issue for many New Zealanders. The Government is committed to ensuring that working people who have families are able to participate in paid employment to their full potential. Thousands of families have already benefited from the paid parental leave scheme introduced in 2002. The scheme has already made a difference to many working families by supporting them with leave and job protection by encouraging greater female workplace attachment and by supporting the health and well-being of new mothers and their babies. 
In 2003 the evaluation of the implementation and effectiveness of the paid parental leave scheme showed that the scheme had been very well received. The research showed that the scheme’s impact on business had been predominantly positive or neutral and that almost all mothers who accessed the scheme took the full 12 weeks’ paid leave. A number of people who participated in the evaluation made suggestions about how the scheme could be improved. Some of the key suggestions formed the basis of the bill before the House. 
The bill enhances the existing Act to ensure that the benefits of paid parental leave can now be accessed by more people. It lowers the eligibility threshold by providing that to be eligible for paid parental leave a woman need only have worked for the same employer for the 6 months immediately preceding the expected date of delivery or adoption of a child rather than 12 months as at present. This change makes it easier for more New Zealand women to access the scheme particularly those who work in less standard employment arrangements. The bill also extends the duration of leave from 12 weeks to 14 weeks progressively by 1 December 2005. This will enable better compliance with international human rights instruments relating to the duration of paid maternity leave. 
The bill continues to recognise the diversity of New Zealand families. While paid parental leave is predominantly taken by women paid parental leave may also be transferred to a partner provided he or she also meets the eligibility criteria. The bill makes it clear that for the purposes of entitlement to the paid parental leave scheme teachers employed by boards of trustees at more than one State or integrated school are to be treated as having one employer. This ensures that teachers who work concurrently in more than one school or move from one school to another have continuous employment in the public education service recognised for the purpose of accessing paid parental leave. The bill also ensures that the unique situation affecting some junior doctors who currently risk missing out on parental leave entitlements because they are required to change employers as part of their compulsory training will be addressed. A new provision will recognise continuous service between different district health boards. 
Some submitters made suggestions as part of the evaluation of the paid parental leave scheme and to the Social Services Committee that the scheme be extended to self-employed women. Further work on the feasibility of extended paid leave to the self-employed is currently being undertaken. As part of this process officials are considering the overall framework the design the eligibility criteria and the payment structure that could apply to self-employed people. Policy development relating to the self-employed is a very high priority for me and I am committed to progressing this issue further in the near future. 
 The bill strikes a fair balance between employers and employees. This balance will allow new parents time to raise a newborn or adopted child without fear of losing substantial amounts of income or resigning from their jobs while also ensuring that the rapid growth of the New Zealand economy continues. By extending paid parental leave from 12 to 14 weeks expanding the eligibility criteria for those wishing to access paid parental leave and allowing new mothers to transfer their paid parental leave entitlement to their partners our Government is ensuring that New Zealand working parents who wish to have children have the best opportunity to do so while continuing to participate in paid employment to their full potential. 
In conclusion I thank the Social Services Committee for its diligence and hard work on the bill. I also commend very highly the officials particularly those from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the Department of Labour for their hard work and commitment to this area. I commend this bill to the House.