Andersen Ginny; Rurawhe AdrianHOLIDAYS (BEREAVEMENT LEAVE FOR MISCARRIAGE) AMENDMENT BILL (NO 2)Third ReadingGINNY ANDERSEN (Labour—Hutt South): I move That the Holidays (Bereavement Leave for Miscarriage) Amendment Bill (No 2) be now read a third time.Back in 2018 when my member's bill had just been drawn from the ballot Dunedin writer Kathryn Van Beek wrote in The Spinoff an article and in that article she wrote the words that A miscarriage is a strange secret birth that is also a death." Kathryn miscarried in 2016. She described the loss of her baby's heartbeat having to leave the hospital without a baby and also packing away her baby sheepskin. She described grief as a word that she had never known before and she talked of wishing she told more people of what was happening to her because miscarriage is so often not talked about. It is left in the shadows.Despite the fact that one in four New Zealand women have a miscarriage it is still considered a taboo in our society today. It is still seen as the strange secret birth that is also a death exactly how Kathryn described it. At a time when a woman is dealing with the physical and the emotional loss that comes with the unexpected end of a pregnancy there is still stigma in New Zealand today around asking for help. Kathryn also spoke of her anger—her anger at the lack of information that was available on miscarriage her anger at the taboo of miscarriage and her anger that the Holidays Act did not specifically provide for either stillbirth or miscarriage as a justified reason to have bereavement leave.Well as Kathryn has said angry people get stuff done and so she did. She went to her local MP at the time Clare Curran and I'd like to acknowledge Clare Curran's role in bringing this bill as far as it has come to this day. Dunedin South MP Clare Curran got the idea from Kathryn that she could take her member's bill and make miscarriage and stillbirth explicit reasons for bereavement leave. Clare was supportive and advised her to gather community support and Kathryn did exactly that. She got thousands behind her—thousands of people and thousands of women and parents and other New Zealanders—in support of what we're here today passing into law. So a member's bill was devised drafted and then drawn and this has brought us here today on the third reading of this member's bill.I'm proud to stand here as my first member's bill passes this third reading today. I'm proud to stand here and represent a bill that makes workers' rights and rights for women stronger in New Zealand. I think my mum and dad would be proud. I'm happy to be able to look up today and share this day with Kathryn—I think she's up there somewhere hopefully. I know that she's taken time to come up from Dunedin today at a time when we were uncertain when this bill would be heard due to the House being in urgency so I'm pleased that you are able to be here today Kathryn. As a writer Kathryn voiced the stories of so many women. Her grief was theirs her words were theirs and her fight has been for all of us. We would not have been here without you Kathryn. Thank you for your voice your strength and your advocacy. This is your bill. This is your bill and it is also the bill of 20000 New Zealand women who miscarry each year.We are fortunate enough to have many decent employers in this country who are already allowing bereavement leave to be taken in the event of miscarriage or stillbirth but there are some who are not. There are some who are making employees use up their sick leave at a time when they are dealing with extreme loss and that is callous and that is wrong because the grief that comes with miscarriage is not a sickness; it is a loss and that loss takes time—time to recover physically and time to recover mentally; time to recover with a partner because often the mother is not alone in her grief. The grief of a partner is the shared grief and I am so pleased that the provisions in this bill extend to both mothers and partners. Couples need time to work through their grief together without the pressure of loss of income or using up sick leave.The bill also extends to those people who are seeking to adopt a child and parents having a baby through surrogacy. For those prospective parents there would've been considerable planning and emotional investment in a pregnancy. Many may not have been able to have children themselves so their grief is intensified by the loss that they could not themselves carry. It is only fair and it is only right that those who had intended to become parents through surrogacy or through adoption should be entitled to bereavement leave in the same event of miscarriage or stillbirth. The bill has also been extended so that the leave provisions apply to a former spouse or partner of the mother if they are the biological parent. At times of stress or change breakups can happen but that in no way diminishes the grief felt by both biological parents at the unexpected end of a pregnancy. In fact it can often exacerbate it.I am proud to live in a country that doesn't shy away from compassionate fair and progressive legislation for women. From being the first in the world to enable women to vote—from also our world-leading equal pay legislation—to removing abortion from the Crimes Act we have a proud history of fairness and equity for women. The passing of this bill shows that once again New Zealand is leading the way for women becoming only the second country in the world as far as I'm aware of to provide leave for miscarriage and for stillbirth. Coverage of this bill when it was first done at first reading went global as other countries looked to us as a world leader an example of legislation that explicitly recognised the grief that comes with miscarriage or stillbirth. I can only hope that while we may be one of the first we will not be one of the last and that other countries will also begin to legislate for a compassionate and fair leave system that recognises the pain and the grief that comes from miscarriage and stillbirth.In turn I hope that this bill will go some way in allowing women to feel more comfortable about talking about miscarriage and that they feel comfortable reaching out for support and for help in what is a huge physical and emotional loss without the pressure of financial insecurity or insufficient leave to take that needed time to grieve. The premise of this bill is simple: it is a bill about fairness. When employers value their workers their workers value their work. As it stands the law is unclear around provisions meaning that women are less likely to question or clarify their rights particularly during what is an immensely difficult time. As such they all too often suffer in silence and are stoic. This means that women will no longer have to question their rights as their rights will be explicit in law. Parents will be able to grieve with certainty—certainty that they have a steady income certainty that they can grieve together and certainty that they do not have to use the misnomer that is sick leave when dealing with the loss of a pregnancy.I first learnt of miscarriage from my mother. She had two miscarriages one before I was born and one after I was born. I was too young to remember her going to the hospital but she was always open to me about what she went through both mentally and physically. While this bill is primarily about fairness and workers' rights I also hope that it promotes openness in our society about pregnancy stillbirth and miscarriage. We should not be fearful of our bodies or shroud them in mystery. It is simply part of life. I wish to commend this bill to the House.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to."