Bennett Paula: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Paid Parental  Leave for Self-Employed Persons) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Bennett Paula: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Paid Parental  Leave for Self-Employed Persons) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:628;Page:595] 
PAULA BENNETT (National) 
: 
 These people are our backbone. They are the people who work hard and take risks who have built our businesses and who are building a future for our country. So I stand in support of the bill.  
It is about time it was passed. When I was reading  
Hansard  
before I was amazed to find that 3 years ago Anne Tolley and Bob Simcock said that self-employed people should be considered in the bill that went through. It was then that we should have done this. It saddens me that we are having to address this issue at this time when we could have dealt with it 3 years ago as National members called for. It is shameful but here we are and thank goodness we are getting it right now. Those people are our backbone. They deserve equal rights and they deserve the paid parental leave that others get. Those people deserve to be recognised as other men and women who have young babies do. They deserve the right to get paid parental leave. [ 
Interruption 
] Would members like me to quote from it— 
Hon David Benson-Pope 
: What a bunch of plonkers! 
PAULA BENNETT 
: Is the member going to tell me off? Was there something he would like to say?  
Hon Member 
: Watch the tennis ball! 
PAULA BENNETT 
: I hope not! I would like to address some of the things in this bill. It was discriminatory that parents who were self-employed were not included in this legislation in the first place. It is time we addressed that. This bill is about giving women choice. It is about giving them the option to take time out to raise their newborns without being penalised as they currently are because they happen to be especially ambitious or entrepreneurial enough to start their own business. It is time for us to address that discrepancy and to make sure that self-employed parents are given equal opportunity under the law.  
When we ask self-employed people what they would like as they move forward they say that they would like less bureaucracy. They would like an opportunity to run their businesses and their lives with less Government involvement. They would like to be paying less tax. They would like an opportunity to move forward and to build a future for both themselves and future generations. This bill goes some way to addressing those issues and I look forward to receiving submissions at the select committee where we can start to look at the will of the people. Self-employed people deserve to be looked at in an equal way.  
Those people want time to raise their babies. This is about breastfeeding. Dr Jackie Blue is sitting next to me and she will certainly tell us about the importance of breastfeeding in a baby’s early days. We need that time. At the moment self-employed women are thinking about either not having babies or if they do have babies rushing back to work because they do not have the same rights as other parents in the country. It is time to address that role so I give credit to the Labour Government for finally bringing about this legislation. But I am quite saddened that we are having to do this 3 years after the initial legislation was passed. It just seems a bit of a waste of Parliament’s and the select committee’s time that we did not address this issue when the National Party identified and raised it 3 years ago. They just point-blank said—[ 
Interruption 
] Anne Tolley said that rural women would be excluded by the legislation because they were self-employed.  
Let us ask self-employed people what they want. They want equal rights under the law and this bill goes some way to doing that. The National Party will support this bill going to the select committee and we look forward with interest to seeing the submissions that are received.