Bakshi Kanwaljit Singh: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBakshi Kanwaljit Singh: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 23 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19377. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI (National):Sat sri akaal Mr Chair. Thank you very much for the opportunity. We are debating clause 3 of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill.I would like to start with the member opposite Jacinda Ardern who said that paid parental leave was increased from time to time. I would like to remind her that in 2007 the Families Commission gave a report to the Hon Ruth Dyson then Minister of Labour in which it recommended that the paid parental leave provision be increased to 13 months by 2015 including a month for fathers. Labour chose to do nothing at that time and the recommendations were just kept aside. The Government at that time was running in surplus which is a very important point that the Opposition keeps reminding us about—that it delivered nine Budgets in surplus. But did it consider these recommendations? No because Opposition members were not serious about them. They want to take all the credit for what they have done but what they have not done is think about the recommendations that were given by the Families Commission. They never thought about those.It is very important. We need to be responsible for our kids. I come from a culture where we are totally responsible for our children. For example I would like to share with this Committee that I have got two sons who are at the ages of 21 and 23—Hon Christopher Finlayson: Far too young to have children that old.KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI: No no they should not. They should wait for some time. They are still living with me and I am looking after them. It is not only me; it is me and my wife. Both of us—Hon Christopher Finlayson: Tell them to grow up.KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI: I will talk to you about that later on. It is very important that parents be responsible for their children. I am not saying that the Government should not look after kids. Vulnerable kids should be taken care of by the Government but the bulk of the responsibility should be on the parents. Parents have to take that responsibility. They have to grow up and make sure they provide the best facilities for their kids. There are cases where families are vulnerable and the kids are vulnerable. The Government should come and pitch in with whatever they want to do. It should help the families that cannot afford that.It is a bit rich for Labour to take a stand on this now that it is in Opposition when it had 9 years in Government to implement changes before the global economic crisis hit the world. This Government has gone through tremendous financial constraints and I think that the leadership of the National Government has done very well. Now that it will be affordable the finance Minister is giving a 2-week increase in paid parental leave in the coming year and a 2-week increase later on. As the financial situation improves for this economy I think you will see further increases in these paid parental leave subsidies to families. With these words I conclude my contribution.