Fenton Darien: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Paid Parental Leave for Self-Employed Persons) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Fenton Darien: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Paid Parental Leave for Self-Employed Persons) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:630;Page:2617] 
DARIEN FENTON (Labour) 
: 
 I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak in the second reading of this very important bill. I congratulate the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee whose members worked constructively to ensure the bill could be reported back to the House expeditiously. 
I was going to say that it was very pleasing to have so much agreement in this House until I heard the speech made by the member opposite. He seems both to support paid parental leave and to oppose it. I thought we had moved on. Certainly that was the impression we had when the bill was introduced and from members opposite who were on the select committee. I thought we had all reached a point where we agreed that it is essential to ensure that all women and parents—whether or not they are employed or self-employed—do not feel pressured to put their working lives ahead of starting a family. I thought we had finally got the National Party to adopt a Labour Party policy. I thought its members had finally put aside their ideological reasons for opposing it because it has not always been the case that they have. 
I am one among many thousands of women who campaigned for 10 years for the right for mothers to have time off work on pay at the birth or adoption of a child. I did think we had moved on and I am sorry I was wrong about that because I recall very well some famous comments made by members of the Opposition parties. Dr Brash said that he would scrap paid parental leave if National became the Government. Anne Tolley said the scheme was discriminatory and unfair and that National was likely to scrap the scheme if it got back into power and so on. Jenny Shipley brought in a baby bonus as a sop to women who were campaigning. So I am disappointed; I did think we had moved on. I thought we had understood that it was really important in this country that we were modern and accepted that future generations have to be supported by giving all women and parents the right to have time off on pay at the birth or adoption of a child. It is a very common-sense policy and it shows the fairness of Labour’s policies. 
I want to comment on Mr Mapp’s point about tax deductibility. It is not fair because it advantages women who are well off. Those who are not well off cannot afford to wait until the end of the year to get their money back; they have to live from day to day to feed their baby and family. The Labour Party adopted this system because it was a fair policy. This bill builds on the paid parental leave scheme that was introduced by a Labour-led Government in 2002 and extended in 2004. It extends the benefits of paid parental leave to self-employed women. Yes it was our policy before the election and we have acted very quickly to deliver on it. The Prime Minister outlined it as a priority in her reply to the Speech from the Throne at the beginning of this Parliament. 
One of the important changes to the bill that I think will benefit many women is the right of employees and self-employed women to become eligible for a subsequent period of paid parental leave after 6 months of a return to work from a previous period of parental leave rather than 12 months as it is at present. Some important issues picked up by the select committee and outlined by the Minister will be addressed in the Supplementary Order Paper the Minister is to introduce. 
I was surprised because there was a large amount of agreement in the select committee and I thought we had made some progress on this matter. I was going to say that it is a good day in this House when we have so much agreement about something so important to our future. At least I think we will get the bill voted on. If that is the case then this is a good day for women for parents and for families.