Stanford EricaERICA STANFORD (National—East Coast Bays): Thank you Madam Chair Tolley for this call to speak to the title and commencement of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Bill. You'll have to forgive me Madam Chair; I'm new and I want to speak about commencement and what I don't understand as a new MP I suppose is the fact that we have such a long time before this bill comes into force—in fact 7½ months—but we don't have a select committee process to consider a range of issues. A select committee process would no doubt have fully investigated the issue that makes up the substance of Amy Adams' Supplementary Order Paper 3. Instead we've been forced to sort of play out that role of select committee here in these proceedings. The commencement date of this bill 7½ months away gives a select committee plenty of time to consider the issues of both caregivers taking parental leave at the same time.What we've heard from many people tonight and indeed last night is the role that both parents play and the importance of fathers when a mother has multiple births a caesarean post-natal depression or other issues with her birth and needs that other partner to take time with her. What we haven't heard about and what I want to talk about tonight is same-sex couples. Last night we heard a lot about fathers and their rights but actually what I want to talk about tonight is the fact that we have 7½ months before the commencement of this bill and nobody is talking about same-sex couples and the fact that two mothers who are bringing life into this world are unable under this bill to take time off to bond with that new baby at the same time.We have come so far with marriage equality and I even heard Grant Robertson today stand up in the House and say Oh look it's great that Australia voted the way they did today and isn't it amazing to see that they're finally catching up with us." Well I put it to you and the members here today that actually it won't take long before they do catch up with us because this is a giant step backwards to not allow two same-sex parents to take that time to bond with their baby at the same time. The commencement date allows us the time in a select committee to sit down and carefully consider these issues because two mothers have the right to look after their baby at the same time and to spend those few months at the very early stages bonding with that baby.I know that there are members across the floor that agree with me—I can see them nodding at me as I speak. Indeed I heard Willow-Jean Prime last night saying that she—Hon Phil Twyford: That was nodding off.ERICA STANFORD: Hilarious! Last night we saw Willow-Jean Prime agree—and look she is a thoroughly lovely person and she's just been through the experience of having a baby. She in fact said that that time with her partner in those very early stages was so very important and I wholeheartedly agree with her. The commencement date is 7½ months away. We have plenty of time to consider this.The other thing I'd like to also consider is who this has the greatest impact on. I put it to you that parents who have the means to be able to have one partner take time off—unpaid leave—to look after the baby and bond with the baby with perhaps the mother or the other caregiver—that's great for them but what we haven't considered and we have time to consider before commencement is the fact that the people who have the least ability to be able to afford to do this are affected the most. The people who are on average incomes—they are the ones who are most affected by this because they don't have that ability to take time off that unpaid leave.Actually I agree with an earlier speaker to say that perhaps this bill should be called something like the "Selective Parental Leave Bill as Dictated by the Labour Party" because it doesn't allow flexibility. What it does is dictate to families to same-sex couples and to people who don't have the means to be able to take leave at the same time—it dictates to them what they should do. It says "This Government knows best." If you're a same-sex couple and you want to spend time—reduce your leave so that both parents both mothers or both fathers can take time off at the same time to bond with their baby well this Government knows better than you do. This Government thinks that 26 weeks and one after the other or one and then one—it's ridiculous. Same-sex couples if they want to bond with their babies at the same time should have the right to do that.I put it to you: people who don't have the means and the ability to take time off because they don't have the leave available or they don't have the savings to be able to take unpaid leave have the same rights as people with more means. The Labour Party in their approach to this—it's heavy-handed it's inflexible and it's unfair. I would like to hear from the Minister his views on this. Thank you.The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Anne Tolley): Just before I take the next call the member's a new member so I didn't pull her up but these title clauses—I refer her and any other new members on either side that want to take a call to Speakers' ruling 112/6 which talks about exactly how this discussion should happen. So it's a time to summarise what's been discussed before; it's not a time to bring up new issues."