Parmar ParmjeetDr PARMJEET PARMAR (National): Thank you Madam Chair Tolley for the opportunity to take part in this debate in the committee of the whole House. From what I see in clauses 1 to 4 I would like to first comment on the commencement. We support that this policy is going to come in two steps—that is from next year it will be increased to 22 weeks and then in 2020 it will be increased to 26 weeks. But what we see is that the commencement of this policy is from 1 July 2018 and there are several months until 1 July 2018. I believe just like my other colleagues on this side of the Chamber that we have enough time for this legislation to go through the proper select committee process.When we were debating Part 1 and Part 2 of this legislation in the committee of the whole House we saw that some really good ideas came from our colleagues from this side of the Chamber the Hon Amy Adams and Sarah Dowie. That is the kind of contribution that people can give during the select committee process which this legislation is not able to take advantage of. If the commencement was for example 1 January 2018 then I would understand that there was a need for this legislation to be put through urgency. But with a commencement date of 1 July 2018 I do not see why this legislation has to go through urgency or why this legislation can't go through the select committee process.About the title: yes we had Supplementary Order Paper 3 from the Hon Amy Adams to allow both parents to take parental leave at the same time. When we look at the title it says Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Bill". "Parental leave"—yes we have evolved and as we know our election policy had that so we wanted to contribute to this legislation. What Labour wants to do is they want to allow only one parent to be on paid parental leave to look after their newborn so I think actually the title should not be Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Bill. It should be "One Parent Leave at a Time and Employment Protection Amendment Bill" because this bill actually allows only one parent to be around their newborn. We understand that families have different circumstances and families should be allowed to choose what their circumstances allow for them to do when it comes to paid parental leave.I also want to comment on new clause 4 in schedule 1 to be inserted into schedule 1AA of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act—I would like Minister Lees-Galloway to clarify this for the committee—it says in subsection (2) that: "A person referred to in subclause (1) may before 1 July 2018 (a) give notice of a request to take parental leave in which case the person may begin the parental leave before 1 July 2018 as if those amendments were already in force;". I understand this is for people who are expecting their baby from 1 July 2018 but what I want to know from the Minister in charge is: how far before can people take this parental leave? As far as I understand the summary of this bill says that the funding for this bill will be allocated in Budget 2018. If someone decides to take leave before the Budget is announced where will the funding come from for this advance period of parental leave that is taken by that family?I really want the Minister to explain because we really want to know that there is funding available for this legislation to go through. We do not want to do a legislation-stamping exercise here without getting full assurance about funding—or is this just another thing that has been overlooked in this legislation as my colleague Sarah Dowie pointed out? Those are the kinds of things that we get the opportunity to iron out when we put legislation through the select committee process. I really want the Minister to take a call and explain for the benefit of the committee what will happen if someone goes on leave—even if the newborn is expected from 1 July 2018 if someone takes that leave before the Budget is announced where will the funding come from?Finally it is quite disappointing to see that this legislation is being rushed through the House when there is no need because the commencement of this legislation is 1 July 2018. If they really wanted to justify this urgency I think they should have decided an earlier date for the commencement. Thank you."