Logie Jan: Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Bill (No 2) Taxation (Parental Tax Credit) Bill — Third ReadingsText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLogie Jan: Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Bill (No 2) Taxation (Parental Tax Credit) Bill — Third Readings[Sitting date: 15 May 2014. Volume:698;Page:18009. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JAN LOGIE (Green): I rise to take a call in this third reading of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Bill (No 2) and the Taxation (Parental Tax Credit) Bill which the Greens will be supporting.The Green Party believes passionately in supporting our children. We believe in the value of good lives for everyone and a fair future for everyone. We believe that every single child in this country deserves to thrive not just survive or have their lives cut short or harmed by illness from diseases of poverty as is all too often the case in this country at the moment.This Government has presented us with a Budget where it has told us that it is giving $500 million to families to support families in need. New Zealand needs to know that that $500 million which sounds so significant is actually only $125 million a year over the next 4 years and that this Government the same Government is spending $1 billion a year in servicing the interest on the debt that it has got this country into by spending on things like American-style expressways. Do those values express an honest desire to support the families of this country? I do not believe they do. This Government has told us that this is a fiscally responsible response to the challenges yet it does nothing to address child poverty—the 285000 children in this country who are living in poverty.I do want to draw members’ attention to the sound of a baby that we heard earlier in the gallery and how that sound cannot but touch our hearts. I would like to ask members to reflect for a minute on one of the provisions in this bill that relates to the parental tax credit and the thought that the family of that baby may be a working family not receiving ACC not on a student allowance not on a benefit and that family would be getting extra support from this Government. If there was another baby making that same sound sitting on its parents’ knees right next to it who was from a beneficiary family struggling on just over $200 a week—and I would like to remind the members in this House that that is not so different from what we get as a nightly accommodation rate when we travel and that amount is expected to support that family for an entire week—they are getting nothing in this Budget from this Government.I ask whether that is delivering on what we want for our children in this country. Is that degree of discrimination delivering the best that we have to offer? I cannot believe that it is. When we have a surplus when we are choosing to spend money on other things when we are paying off debt that we do not need to be paying off because we could have had a temporary earthquake levy that would not have required us to borrow for that when we could have not had those tax cuts for the richest New Zealanders and if we had lived within our means we could have provided for our most vulnerable children.I think this House needs to reflect on the values that are being delivered by this Government. We absolutely support the extension to paid parental leave but I note though—and I think it is part of an important debate—that the Child Poverty Action Group has criticised this as a priority because it is not reaching the most vulnerable families. I think that is an important debate and it is a shame that we have not been able to go through a select committee process to enable that political public discussion.When we first got paid parental leave I was the executive director for the national Young Women’s Christian Association of Aotearoa - New Zealand. We were really involved in that campaign to first get the 12 weeks. I have got to say that it was a tough campaign. We had to do a lot of work to convince the then Labour-Alliance Government the Labour Party in particular to support introducing paid parental leave. It was a tough campaign and I think it is heartening for the community to see that now the Labour Party is in a position where it is bringing forward 26 weeks and it is right onboard with this issue and the recognition that paid parental leave makes a huge difference to every measure in our society. It is also now encouraging to see the National Party coming on board and getting that.So to all of you thousands of submitters all of the many people who sent in postcards know that you are making a difference that this House is starting to get it—that paid parental leave will deliver. The National Party admittedly has gone only part way and I was so disappointed last night to see the amendment for 26 weeks get voted down when we had heard from 3795 submitters who desperately and so eloquently supported the need for 26 weeks because of the health benefits in terms of breastfeeding and attachment and the long-term benefits to us as a society from supporting that early time in life.It is undeniable the benefit of that time frame. There was such good debate about it. Employers were very clear that 6 months was actually easier for them because at the moment with the 14 weeks they are typically just covering rather than getting somebody in to replace the person for those 6 months. It is too short a time period. It is actually increasing the costs for them and the burden on their staff.I do ask the National Party members who supposedly support business and those interests whether 16 weeks and then later 18 weeks will address the need that has been identified by those businesses. I am not sure that it does. They were quite clear from my hearing of the submissions that 6 months was a good starting period for being able to manage that transition from their perspective as well as for delivering the social good.Finally I do want to just go back to the fundamentals and what we are valuing as a society. This legislation is bringing in 16 weeks’ paid parental leave next year and then 18 weeks the year after. It is an acknowledgment and I thank the National Party for that acknowledgment. It is an important thing for all the people in New Zealand to understand that you will listen even if you will not go as far as they would like.I would like also to just finish on the core point for us. The major disappointment for us with this legislation is around the parental tax credit. Although it offers some money to middle-income families really it is just an adjustment to recognise the decreased value of Working for Families because the Government has not been adjusting it to the level that it should have been so it has decreased in value. That $13 million that is going in there is pretty much a token effort but I am not underestimating the power of $70 in the hand for 10 weeks for those families. It is just gutting that it is not going to the families that absolutely need it and that it will in effect entrench the inequality and the gap between those who for reasons of disability or violence or just not being able to be in a job at that time are locked out of the workforce at this time. The children of those families deserve our best effort.This legislation offers breadcrumbs and we are happy to take them for now but boy do we look forward to the time when we are in a position to be able to offer everyone a fair share of the cake.