Dowie SarahSARAH DOWIE (National—Invercargill): Thank you Madam Chair Tolley and it's a pleasure to rise in support of Part 2 of this bill but also in support of Amy Adams' Supplementary Order Paper—in particular her clause 17A which talks about adding more flexibility to the taking of paid parental leave in that the primary carer leave may be taken consecutively or concurrently with the primary carer leave taken by the partner.I wanted to highlight the importance of this and the importance of making sure that—when we have opportunities like these we need to make sure that the concept of paid parental leave is evolved that it's fit for purpose and that it applies to the many situations that families find themselves in and that the law is not wedded to a particular ideology that really has no meaning to everybody concerned. So I'm going to get quite personal and the reason I'm going to do that is because the example highlights why the Hon Amy Adams' Supplementary Order Paper is so vital and should be considered—or at least this bill referred back to select committee so that it can be investigated more fully.I've talked in this House before about me being the mother of two premature babies and my first-born Christabel was born at 35 weeks. In the first two weeks being in neonatal well things were hunky-dory. She was a great baby. She did particularly well for a premmie" but things weren't to transpire so well as soon as I got Christabel home. For those mums and dads that know what colic is I wouldn't wish colic on my worst enemy. Colic is where the baby cannot actively bring up wind and it creates all sorts of pains in their stomachs and it means that they are quite frankly a nightmare to deal with. They don't sleep. These children do not sleep; they're in agonising pain and there is nothing you can do for that baby apart from put that baby on your shoulder make sure that their diaphragm is lifted up and walk them around the house.So with respect to clause 17A of the Supplementary Order Paper which Amy Adams has brought to this House what I found was that it was very very important to have my husband at home for me to bond with baby. I was one of the lucky ones; I had a hands-on father of my daughter to come home and help. I can assure this House that after two days of looking after my baby I was in need dire need to hand the child over to my husband. And so to have that flexibility in the paid parental leave system to be able to take paid parental leave with your spouse or partner and share that responsibility would be a fantastic help to families that find themselves in that predicament.I understand that research in the benefits of paid parental leave point to bonding over a longer period of time but that's with all things equal and it's not in real life. The Supplementary Order Paper that the Hon Amy Adams has suggested is a practical amendment to make sure that paid parental leave—in all of its nuances—is fit for purpose in modern New Zealand. We are dealing with these issues day in day out and it is our responsibility in this House to make sure that this legislation is nuanced that it has sections within it that will fit to all sorts of family situations. And so at the very least I would love the Minister to stand up and talk about what he intends to do with respect to this Supplementary Order Paper to make it workable because he stood up and said that it isn't workable—to make it workable and make sure that New Zealanders are getting the very best out of their representatives with respect to paid parental leave."