Ardern Jacinda: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeArdern Jacinda: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 28 May 2014. Volume:699;Page:18441. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JACINDA ARDERN (Labour): It is my pleasure to speak on this bill the Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill and to create a resounding build-up to the moment when Sue Moroney will have the opportunity to speak to her bill. Some may be confused as to why she has not already. It is simply because the National Party appears to be trying to collapse the debate which is entirely indicative of how it has treated this bill. The fact is that it is absolutely extraordinary that we face a bill tonight that has majority support in the House—majority support from MPs in this House—and we still face the prospect that it may not pass. That has not happened yet but I sincerely hope that we have a situation where the will of members of Parliament who are here to represent New Zealanders—who have resoundingly said “We support this bill.”—is listened to.I want to begin though by acknowledging the work of Sue Moroney. I remember when Sue proposed to our caucus an extension of paid parental leave because that is the process we go through when we have members’ bills. It was clear to me at that time that there is a fantastic evidence base behind what has been proposed by Sue in conjunction with the Labour Party—a fantastically strong evidence base. Everything that she needed to present in order to get this bill through was there. She had costed it out as far as we were able with those resources and again that is costing that has been extended by the work of the Government Administration Committee.But what was really clear to me was Sue’s absolute passion and commitment to this issue. She has been joined by members of the community and I particularly want to pay homage to 26 for Babies. The passion within that group comes from a deep understanding of the pressures of parenthood. That is what struck me—the pressures of parenthood and the deep desire for all parents to do the very best they can by their children and in particular their newborns. Those two groups Sue and 26 for Babies have done such a fabulous job and I acknowledge their work here in the House tonight.I want to highlight what it is that this bill actually does. We know that currently—and it remains currently in New Zealand—paid parental leave is stuck at a relatively low 14 weeks. Yes the Government made some changes recently but they are not coming in for a little while yet. That is probably one of the reasons why when you compare New Zealand with other OECD nations we spend roughly half what other OECD nations do on the early years of a child’s life. It is around the $20000 mark and that is when you take into account health education—every bit of spending that goes on in those first 5 years. So we spend half in terms of that investment. You can put that down to things like the fact that New Zealand does not really have universal credits family tax credits for families with newborns. We do not have a particularly lengthy period of paid parental leave. Those are the reasons predominantly why we spend so much less than other OECD nations. But there is good evidence to suggest why we should.We know that the most important period of a child’s life is the first 3 years—and in particular the first 6 months and first year of that child’s life. We know that paid parental leave at 6 months is based on strong evidence from the World Health Organization. All of that evidence is there and is strong and is irrefutable. That is the reason why Sue ultimately brought this bill forward and why Labour has supported it every step of the way.I think as I have said the strength of support you see for this bill from families in particular is probably borne out from personal experience. I do not have children but my sister very recently brought into my family the first grandchild and it was the most exciting thing for my family. But watching my sister struggle with choices around work and being a caregiver I can only imagine what that feels like when you are a mother and a new mother. I think that that has really brought home to me the importance of this bill which is ultimately about trying to give families more choices when they are in those very early stages of a child’s life.The Growing Up in New Zealand study demonstrates again I think that actually most families are trying to get to that 6 months’ leave mark as best they can even if they are given only 14 weeks’ paid parental leave. When you look at some of the statistics and the work that has been done you see that families are cobbling together whatever sick leave they might have whatever holiday leave they have and even unpaid leave to try to get to at least that 6-month mark. That sends a strong signal to us that—and actually it tends to look more like 6 to 9 months—that is kind of the marker that parents want to reach at the least before they have to even consider going back into the workplace. So that should be the marker for us of what we should be looking at in terms of a policy response.I acknowledge that there are a range of views on paid parental leave. Some people out there in the sector have said that if they were picking an initiative they would do X or Y or Z first. It is our view that the evidence is overwhelming for paid parental leave and that having that and undertaking other initiatives that assist families not eligible for paid parental leave are not mutually exclusive. We do not have to make a choice between the two and in fact Labour has not made a choice between the two. That was one of the reasons we brought in our Best Start package. We acknowledge that 40 percent of families would be eligible for paid parental leave of 6 months under a Labour Government but for those who are not we want there to be a little bit of extra support for them as well. That is our $60 a week payment for almost every family. Ninety-five percent of families are eligible for that payment.What I would highlight as well is that the Best Start payment for someone on paid parental leave kicks in after their paid parental leave has finished and it continues on for another 6 months. So in all those families would receive a year of support from Labour. And why is that? Well it is our belief that actually giving parents that choice that extra support for the first year is our ultimate goal but one we know is going to take us a little longer to get to when it comes to extending paid parental leave. So this is a way that we can bridge that and provide a little bit of extra support for those families in that first year while we look to be able to extend paid parental leave. That also I think highlights the fact that we have been fiscally responsible in the way that we have rolled out this policy. We costed it we decided we could not go as far as we might want to we put that on hold and we have gone as far as we can in a staged way.I do find it interesting that actually when we brought out the Best Start package as a whole the National Government called it unaffordable. It was not that far off the costings of its families package in the Budget but apparently that is totally affordable because National came up with it. You would have to explain to me the differences between the two because as far as I can tell it seems to be that National is just playinginto rhetoric and attempts to slate what I would say—I am holding a little promo here—is an excellent package and one that Labour is very very proud of.I will save my very last words for the National Party. As I said at the beginning of my address it is a rare thing that we have majority support for a member’s bill in this House. When it happens it is fantastic. We see it with the odd conscience bill. Marriage equality was a fantastic debate to have because it showed that we could come together on bills that were for want of a better phrase for the greater good. I would put this bill in that category. There is majority support for this bill tonight. That should mean that it passes. In anyone’s view of democracy the simplistic view is that if you believe in democracy and the majority of people vote for something it should get through. I would hope that that is the outcome tonight because that will be the best outcome not just politically—not just for politics—but for kids for families and in particular for mums. I commend this bill to the House and I look forward to seeing the National Party allowing it to be seen through to the end.