Dowie Sarah: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (6 Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is subject to correctionDowie Sarah: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (6 Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 08 June 2016. Volume:714;Page:11807. Text is subject to correction.]SARAH DOWIE (National—Invercargill): It is a pleasure again to take—it is kind of a bit like the never-ending story actually. I keep being brought back to this Chamber to take a call—or maybe it is just because it is about paid parental leave. But regardless it is a pleasure to take this call on the Parental Leave and Employment Protection (6 Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill.Obviously Part 1 is one of the operative sections that looks to extend paid parental leave from 18 weeks to 22 weeks and there has been some debate already on this provision in respect of cost. I understand that Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment figures have said that it is at $445.8 million over 4 years. I guess what I bring this back to is that when you are in Government it is about swings and roundabouts and it is about a suite of measures to give children the best start in life. So from my perspective I believe in paid parental leave—I am going to put that on the table. Obviously I am a mother of two myself and I believe in the benefits of paid parental leave.But as has been mentioned before there was a Government bill in this House prior to this one the Employment Standards Legislation Bill which extended this leave and Part 1 at this point in time is redundant in that it is really about a suite of measures to give young children the best start in life. I do want to put it to the member that I am surprised that the keeping-in-touch hours—or work contact hours as they are called in this bill—were not explored further and were not left in this bill. I think that work contact hours and keeping-in-touch hours are an exceptionally good idea that has been supported by this Government as was mentioned by the member opposite as well.The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! The member can discuss what is in the bill not what was taken out of the bill—all right? So this is about the bill as it has emerged from the select committee in the second reading. It is about the bill now.SARAH DOWIE: Thank you Mr Chair. So back to the operative section of Part 1 the extension of 18 weeks’ paid parental leave to 22 weeks—this is a matter of cost. Like I say the Government looks at cost—and it was mentioned prior by the member opposite. Look just because we do have a surplus at this stage it does not mean that we spend it. You know the Opposition would be well advised to take account of saving for a rainy day and there are all sorts of situations that come up when you are in Government and you are managing this fine country of New Zealand—horrific instances such as the Christchurch earthquakes—that require attention and require money to help support people moving forward.So it is one thing to single out parents and babies as to the best start in life—yes in a world where we had unlimited funds extending paid parental leave with all of the benefits that ensued from it would be fantastic—but this is a Government that has got us back in black. We have brought our books back into surplus and we are looking at pragmatic management of this country looking at all different aspects of equality of life in New Zealand and spending this money wisely and in a measured way moving forward.So as I said I support paid parental leave. It is a fantastic concept and there are benefits with it. We talk about bonding with baby. One of the best parts of my life was obviously having children and being a mum and being on paid parental leave. It was not as broad as it is now and it was certainly not the 22 weeks that Part 1 looks to extend it to but it is a time to bond with baby and it is a time to look at encouraging mothers to do things such as breastfeed. Breastfeeding is seen as—breast is best. Breast milk provides all of the nutrients that are best for baby but notwithstanding that if you cannot breastfeed it is still an important time for mum to take the time to properly bottle-feed baby.