Upston Louise; Tolley AnneHon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō): Thank you Madam Chair Tolley. I am really keen to just explore further with the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety the offer that this side of the House—the Hon Michael Woodhouse—has given in terms of you know working through any issues that his officials have not been able to resolve or he hasn't been able to resolve in terms of accepting the Hon Amy Adams' Supplementary Order Paper (SOP).I want to raise a couple of points that haven't been raised in this debate before by looking specifically at the explanatory note that the Hon Amy Adams has put forward in terms of her SOP to the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Bill. The point that I think has been missed in this debate is that it is an important … part" she says "of building strong families that where … one parent or other carer [is] involved in raising the child both parents … should have [the] opportunity to bond with the child and support each other". I think that is the fundamental part of this particular SOP that's been put on the Table by the Hon Amy Adams and provided yesterday for the Minister to consider and to be able to work through any issues.A lot of the discussion in this debate has kind of talked about the first baby and the first child and everybody recognises that that comes with particular challenges. But what about when there's already a child in the family? Can I tell you that is particularly challenging. When you come home with a newborn and there's another one or two or three or four littlies around bonding with the family—i.e. both parents—I think is absolutely critical.One of the things that we did in Budget 2017 as a Government was to commit to a $100 million investment into mental health. One of the biggest challenges facing new mothers which paid parental leave absolutely is a significant step forward in is supporting their mental health. For many of those new parents—mums or dads—some of the challenges are not just from the newborn but from the other children in the family. So I think it's very sensible and very practical and actually very logical to accept this SOP. I accept that the Government didn't vote for it in the first part and I would really encourage them particularly those who have had new babies—we've seen on that side of the House Willow-Jean and Kiri and two new babies on our side of the House in the maiden speeches today and two of the National MPs with new babies in their households—just to think about the practicalities. I mean I think one of the things that the new Government could do is actually make sure that the first piece of legislation they champion in this House actually does the real thing that it is intended to do and that's about supporting parents. It's about supporting families. It's about supporting bonding and that's not just one parent to one child. I mean the reality for someone who for a range of circumstances had to return to work much earlier than anticipated after child number two is it is incredibly challenging.The opportunity for this SOP and I implore members opposite—I implore you to consider it from the very practical experience of new parents not just with child number one but with child number two or three or four. The Green member who spoke before talked about three children in three years and I think this particular amendment—this Supplementary Order Paper—actually would make the world of difference to families being able to make choices.We've also heard members talk about you know issues around premature babies or other health issues or the fact that the mother might have had a caesarean section. But sometimes some of the biggest challenges are actually at week 10 or week 12 or week 14. So why would members opposite want to deny the opportunity for a mother and for families to work through whatever challenges they face in a very practical sensible way and to be able to deal with whatever circumstances were thrown up? So I really do want to implore members opposite to consider this wonderful SOP that would make the world of difference for Kiwi families.The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Anne Tolley): Just before I call the next speaker can I just ask people to consider that Part 2 is quite specific. It is talking about extending the leave from 22 weeks to 26 weeks and accordingly the Supplementary Order Paper forms part of that. So I would expect somewhere in the members' five minutes that they are not going to just continue to repeat the arguments for Part 1."