Grigg NicolaHon NICOLA GRIGG (Minister for Women): Thank you Mr Speaker. This is my first opportunity to address the House since returning from maternity leave. I'd like to extend my profound thanks to yourself and also to members across the House for the very kind wishes and goodwill and support shown towards me in the seven months since I've had my baby. It is indeed a delight to be back.In the context of getting some sleep nothing sharpens the mind like having a baby. Nothing makes one more aware and more cognisant of the country and the future of the country and indeed the Government of the day and the decisions that it's making to progress the future of the country like having a child and suddenly being deeply invested in the future of that child. So it is as the Minister for Women and as a new mum that I would like to submit my comments to the House today.I have to say on my maternity leave I had time—at times—to reflect on the direction of travel of the country and how women are treated. I have to say that I am profoundly pleased to be a new mum under this Government not the previous. Under the previous Government it became profoundly clear that politics were an order of the day not the best interests of the women and girls of this country.I think back to the previous Labour Government voting down Nicola Willis' member's bill that would have allowed parents to share their leave. I'm very pleased that we have now taken that bill on as a Government priority and it will be progressed in time. It will allow mums and dads in this modern society—or mums and mums and dads and dads—to be able to share their leave as they see fit and to make autonomous decisions over how they structure their family and their working lives. We're here to make a positive difference to mums and dads and families. We have seen a catastrophic mismanagement of the health system under the previous Government. It is so wonderful to have Dr Shane Reti at the helm. Having just given birth and experienced the maternity services in this country I am so pleased that he is now in charge of reforming the reforms that did nothing but degrade and run down the hospital system.Again this side of the House believes that parents know best. They know how to give their children the best start to life. I am so pleased again that National is going to take forward its three-day stay policy. It will mean that mums and babies will be entitled by law to 72 hours post-partum care. Staff will give them an alert to that by law. They will be told of that entitlement.As these little babies grow up and become small children and toddlers we are also going to help our mums along by enabling them back into the workplace should they choose. It's all about giving parents choice particularly our mums who are so overly represented in poorer outcomes for employment and so on and so forth. We have been delighted to announce our FamilyBoost policy in this year's Budget which enables parents who qualify up to $150 a fortnight to go towards childcare to get our mums back into the workforce if they so choose.On the topic of tax relief women across the country can now keep more of what they earn. We are not the long hand of Government reaching into their bank account and degrading their take-home pay with massively high levels of inflation that this country has seen for too long. Our Minister of Finance is getting the books back in order. We are driving down inflation. We are driving down interest rates. We are letting parents keep more of what they earn in order to enable lovely futures for their children.On the topic of healthcare again thank goodness Dr Shane's at the helm. We have announced the extension of breast-screening services to 70- to 74-year-olds. We're in the business of saving lives. We're in the business of boosting Pharmac to $6.3 billion over the next four years—that is the largest budget that Pharmac has ever seen. We are investing in healthcare for the future of the women of New Zealand.In my last 30 seconds I just wanted to very quickly touch on the pay gap. Under the last Government it sat on or around 9 percent for six long years. We are the Government taking action. We are the Government working with business to design a pay gap calculation tool so that we—sunlight as they say is the best disinfect; we can start to shine a light on the pay gap of New Zealanders. It is the only way to drive it down and we are taking action to do that. Women are too smart to fall for lip-service. They were not interested in the press releases and proclamations of the Labour Government. The National Government—the coalition Government with our friends in New Zealand First and the ACT Party are driving changes to make a difference.