Ardern Jacinda: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeArdern Jacinda: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 23 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19450. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JACINDA ARDERN (Labour):I am going to do a very novel act in this Committee tonight and speak to the clause as I implore my colleagues across the other side of the Chamber to give that a go. Clause 3 is the amendment to the principal Act of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987. I think it is a good opportunity for us to reflect on the fact that multiple amendments have been made to the principal legislation that set out originally paid parental leave. We often learn a lot from history. We learn sometimes that positions change. That is particularly the case for National. I applaud the fact that it has moved away from its ideological problem with paid parental leave because it did have that problem in the first instance.Labour introduced this scheme in 2002 when there was obviously a surplus at that time because we ran nine Budget surpluses FYI. At that time Anne Tolley in 2002 stated the following: “This legislation … shows how the Labour-Alliance Government is stuck in the radical feminist era of the 1960s and 1970s … and is completely out of touch with women of the 21st century and their diverse involvement in today’s labour force. … This is bad legislation. It is a travesty.” Anne Tolley a Minister of this Government called paid parental leave a travesty. And now members on that side of the Chamber try to implore hand on heart that yes they believe in it but just a little bit. So enough that we can have it to just where they are comfortable with it but anything that we suggest is a travesty.Well let me put on record tonight for those members of the Committee: one day you will reflect on your position here and now and you will be as ashamed as you are now of Anne Tolley’s comments in 2002. It took only a little bit over a decade for a little bit of reflection and to look back and say “Well we were wrong.” and surely you admit that was wrong because you have even taken a position that has gone further than what was introduced in 2002. So it would be bizarre if you continued to agree with Anne Tolley’s position. Just to be fair though she was not the only one. Nick Smith in 2002 said: “I say that if a member went out of their way to draft a dumb bill this would have to be it.” He said that he had looked around the world at various paid parental leave models and this one was as bad as they get. Apparently Nick Smith has now moved to it being so bad that National is going to keep it and extend it just a little bit until it is comfortable with it. Obviously he has supported the changes that the Government made in the Budget.And it continued. It was not just 2002 because of course we extended paid parental leave in 2004 because that is what Labour does. When we are able we extend a scheme that we fundamentally believe in. So what was said in 2004? We had Paul Hutchison saying that Labour was “cementing in that State dependency rather than incentivising individual responsibility.” For babies? Is that what he was implying? Judith Collins in 2004: “It is another example of this Government using taxpayers’ money to try to win some votes.” Again from babies? I am not entirely sure what she was trying to say.I think the point that I am trying to make is that it is very easy to look back in hindsight but we are providing you the benefit of hindsight tonight. I say to members on that side of the Chamber that you have already acknowledged you were wrong 10 years ago. We are providing you with the benefit of the doubt to not make that mistake again. You will one day reflect. We will read out again your quotes from tonight and you will hang your heads when you realise how wrong you were. I urge this House to pass the Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill tonight to no longer let it sit on the Order Paper and to do the right thing.