Omer IbrahimHOLIDAYS (PARENT-TEACHER INTERVIEW LEAVE) AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingDebate resumed from 9 June.IBRAHIM OMER (Labour): Thank you Mr Speaker. I rise to take this short call to speak on the Holidays (Parent-Teacher Interview Leave) Amendment Bill. Before I do so I want to thank the member who introduced this bill Terisa Ngobi who happens to be also a parent herself. Thank you Terisa for introducing this bill to the House which will help a lot of children and their parents.The bill amends the Holidays Act 2003 to allow workers with children to take leave to attend parent-teacher interviews. It's a simple change in the legislation that creates significant advantage to low-paid workers. It allows parents to attend interviews about their children's educational performance that are held during their normal working hours.This bill is structured in a way that does not—that does not—excessively burden employers because we have heard a lot of concerns about the costs of this bill to the employers. It doesn't cost much. Parents will no longer have to choose between their income and participating in their child's education—which is very very important—which wouldn't be fair.Why do we support this bill? In many cases good and ethical employers already do this. They offer the leave to their employees. Therefore this bill should not create any issue for anyone. In fact we should all be pleased and happy with it. The refugee and migrant families that I come from tended to feel discouraged to ask for leave. Often they take up insecure and casualised work which makes it really difficult for them. Employment arrangements to take leave is hard for them. This bill would ensure all parents have the opportunity to work in partnership with educators supporters to support their child's educational success.Migrant families often come into New Zealand out of touch with the education system. Parent-teacher interviews therefore often is an important opportunity for these parents to discuss their child's academic progress and to help them to integrate into a New Zealand education system.There is a huge social cost associated with not implementing this bill. Children and their families would not be able to work together for positive educational outcomes—Hon Member: What nonsense.IBRAHIM OMER: It is true. The education sector is the glue for integration and the social cohesion that as a nation we are embarking to. Supporting this bill means we are wrapping up our arms around the families from all social and economic backgrounds. It takes a step forward into investing in our children's future.We know how COVID-19 has created some disruption for children and their families. It is important that the parents and teachers have the opportunity to discuss their children's educational achievement and how they can be supported to reach their full potential. Good educational outcomes for all our children are going to take all the stakeholders working together working together in collaboration—that is parents and guardians know what's happening at school and vice versa and schools know what's happening at home. This bill will help with just that. On that note I highly highly commend this bill to the House.