Martin Tracey: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMartin Tracey: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 23 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19457. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TRACEY MARTIN (NZ First):Kia ora Mr Chair. Can I just compliment Mr Macindoe on his contribution. Mr Macindoe is right and Mr Macindoe is wrong. Mr Macindoe is right that the Government has the ability to veto this bill because the budget of it has not been worked out inside the Budget that those members placed in front of the country. We know that. I think that what is most interesting and probably what the New Zealand public needs to understand is that some of the frustration of the Opposition is that we know that Mr Macindoe. Your Government has that ability. Use it. Do not continue this argument. Use the veto—use the veto. Do not be so afraid with regard to the election that is coming and the backlash that your party may receive from the New Zealand people.Where Mr Macindoe is wrong is that he said that there is no mandate from the New Zealand people for this bill and yet Mr Macindoe knows that like every other member’s bill it goes before a select committee and that the New Zealand public have just as much opportunity—and many many took this opportunity on this bill; many more than on other members’ bills that have been out there—to put their voice into the consultation process. Mr Macindoe knows that so he knows that the New Zealand public has had an opportunity to discuss this bill. Submission after submission after submission was in favour of this bill.Mr Macindoe and his party often use the fact that they have a mandate because they are elected representatives of the country. They argue against having a binding citizens initiated referendum on that basis so they bring their voice just as United Future brings its voice. One might not like the deal they have now done with United Future because it brought a vote to this House on the back of a deal with their Government which it chooses to use independently when the Government might not have wanted it to. It might not suit Government members that the Māori Party which they also did a deal with to try to keep their Government going chose to use its votes independently to support this bill. But that does stand as a mandate under the arguments that National has used before.Mr Macindoe is an eloquent speaker—there is no doubt about it—and Mr Macindoe is a good honest decent man who loves his family and supports his electorate and who actually believes in parents and children.Mike Sabin: So do I.TRACEY MARTIN: And Mr Sabin is not so bad either. But let us get real. What has been happening here is that the Opposition understands the position it is in. It understands that the Government has the power of veto. Get on with it. If you are going to veto the bill veto it and let the people of New Zealand see that and make their decision when they go to the polls on the fact that you vetoed a bill that almost 100 percent of the submitters actually supported.