Tinetti JanJAN TINETTI (Labour): Thank you Mr Speaker. It is truly a pleasure to stand in support of this bill here this afternoon and I too want to take the time to congratulate my colleague Ginny Andersen on firstly bringing this bill to the ballot and then having it drawn from the ballot and then working through it with our Education and Workforce Committee. I say my congratulations here this afternoon because I was away when this bill went through its first reading at the end of last year. I was really disappointed that I was away because I have a personal affinity to this bill as I have suffered two miscarriages myself one before my two children were born and one after my two children were born. Both were devastating on my life and working through this with the select committee at the time brought back a whole lot of personal anxiety as I was working through that but it also reminded me of just how necessary legislation like this is. As the previous speaker Barbara Kuriger has said sometimes there are small changes that are required in our law that seem small to many of us but make the biggest difference to so many people. This piece of legislation as we heard in our select committee will make a very very big difference to so many people and I will say particularly women. It's not just women; there are a number of men who will benefit from this bill as well but I think that from my perspective it really is the women who will benefit greatly from this bill.As we heard from Ginny Andersen in the first speech here this evening we heard about the ambiguity that currently exists in the 2003 Holidays Act where employees are entitled to three days' bereavement leave when there is a death of a child but there is ambiguity over whether that would extend to a miscarriage or a stillbirth. This particular bill does make that clear and tidies that up and makes the line very very distinct for people who are going through the situation of the miscarriage or stillbirth. As I said the bill does remove that ambiguity.During our select committee process we actually had 37 submitters. Now sometimes we could say that that doesn't seem a lot but actually we heard from other people outside of the select committee process right throughout that time through the media. Everyone—those whole 37 and every other aspect where we heard from—was completely in support of this bill. I'm not sure—I think this actually might be the first bill that I've sat in in select committee that we've had 100 percent agreement from our submitters that everyone was in favour of this particular bill. There were elements that people brought up where we could strengthen the bill but everyone supported the intent of it and as a select committee I'd have to say that we did work through this with diligence. We worked very hard on it and it was great to have such good support across both sides of the select committee in working through this particular bill.Submissions spoke to the select committee about the importance of this piece of legislation. The submitters spoke about how—we heard personal stories and how much it would mean to them as people that they didn't have to argue for leave. People didn't actually necessarily bring up the aspect that they had to argue for leave but they said to take that element away that stress away was really important. I can distinctly remember in that select committee process where one submitter spoke of the fact of the shame that they felt of having had a miscarriage and the fact that they then had to go to their employer to ask about having leave and they weren't certain whether they would be entitled to that leave. Now this bill will take that away that they know that that entitlement exists because it exists in law.Now the previous speaker talked about the fact of being quite amazed at people coming forward and feeling that sense of shame. That is something that I absolutely know from personal experience that those women felt. I know that I had that same sense of dread when I had to go to my employer and tell my employer who knew that I was pregnant that I had lost my baby. I didn't even want to have to articulate the words in that first instance and I think that I'm still feeling that grief today and that's 27 years later that I still feel that grief. So to say that these are just moments in time or that you will get over it is not correct and that is what we heard from every single submitter who shared their personal experience during the select committee process.The select committee also spoke about making certain that there was that importance given for time to grieve in this instance not just being able to say or ask I need sick leave." but actually acknowledging it as grief and that is a really important distinction. We don't need when that situation happens sick leave—that might have to come as well—but we need to acknowledge our grief and acknowledging that as bereavement leave was really really important to the people who came to our select committee and shared their experiences with us. There were tears shed from some of those people and they were women. There were tears that were shed in that time and I want to thank those people for actually sharing those very very personal experiences. I know how difficult that would have been for them and I know that I would've struggled in a similar situation but the fact that they did come and acknowledge how personal that grief is and was and how it would help to have that acknowledged by society by having this bereavement leave for them how important that was made this bill so much stronger. I acknowledge them for their strength of character to be able to do that.As I've said telling their stories was a big part and I sometimes thinking about this bill wish we had a few more that could've shared those stories because sometimes in this place we lose the sense of the heart stories to put the picture around the legislation and yet we need to hear those heart stories to understand just how important it is the work that we do here. There's no greater bill than this one for being able to tell those heart stories.So I'd really like to finish with a quote from one of the submitters who has shared their experience of their miscarriage and just what that means to us here and this piece of legislation that we're committing here today: "I have personally had two miscarriages. Both pregnancies my husband and I got to see our baby on the scan and saw a heartbeat as well. We began to bond with the life that had started to grow inside of me and were both absolutely heartbroken when we lost these pregnancies. While I was fortunate that the companies I worked for were compassionate enough to allow me three days of bereavement leave my husband was not offered any leave whatsoever for that time he required off not only to care for me but also his own grief his grief of his own loss. I think that this bill will create equity among employees so that they don't have to hope that their employer is one who will be compassionate enough to offer bereavement leave for miscarriage and instead will know that they are covered by law." That is exactly why we've worked so hard to make a very very good piece of legislation and once again I'd like to acknowledge my colleague here Ginny Andersen on the fantastic work that she has done in bringing this bill and shepherding it through the House. I commend this bill to the House."