Bennett Paula: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Paid Parental Leave for Self-Employed Persons) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Bennett Paula: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Paid Parental Leave for Self-Employed Persons) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:631;Page:2862] 
PAULA BENNETT (National) 
: 
 I would like to address a couple of things perhaps with the other parties in the Chamber because I think the issues are incredibly relevant and something we need to look at. I ask the Minister to answer me because she has not answered any other point I have raised today. I want to talk about whangai because adoption is covered in the bill. The bill recognises legal adoption under the law of the land but I point out it does not recognise Maori or Pacific Island adoption under their laws if you like. Other legislation does—for example immigration legislation and some social welfare policy. In the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee we did look at whangai briefly and thought it was an issue we would like to look at it in the future. 
I stand as a Maori woman and say that whangai is part of our culture and something I fundamentally agree with. It is an ingrained part of New Zealand culture. We can give that lip-service or we can do something about it. So I lay down the challenge that we should be recognising the significance of whangai and making that part of paid parental leave not only for self-employed people but also for other employees. I note that neither the original legislation nor this bill identifies that issue and I would be very interested in hearing the Minister’s views and where she sees that going in the future. 
At the end of the day I think it is fantastic that self-employed people will be included in the legislation through this amendment A friend of mine owns a hair salon. She had three babies in 18 months—a multiple birth and another baby 11 months later. 
Bob Clarkson 
: What! 
PAULA BENNETT 
: The member will be pleased to know she has stopped. She has her three. 
Bob Clarkson 
: One for New Zealand. 
PAULA BENNETT 
: Yes she did that third one and very quickly. She rang me late last week when she saw the bill was coming up and said: “Wow! What a difference that would have made to my life.” She is self-employed and said that things would have been so much easier if she had had that leave. It would have been two lots of 14 weeks’ leave for three babies. She would have used the money to put someone in part-time to manage the business while she was away. She pointed out that the payments would not have replaced her full wage on a weekly basis but it would have given her that little bit of freedom even to have put an accountant into the business for a few hours a week so it could be overseen while she took that time off. 
In fact with the multiple birth the babies came early at 27 weeks so she went on leave very unexpectedly and before time. I am very pleased to tell members as I am sure they are interested that both boys are absolutely fine and healthy. The point is she went off work so quickly that she did not have a chance to leave things at the stage she wanted and needed to keep that business going. But like any good Kiwi woman she was fortunate to have networks of people out wide and far and they stepped in for her and ran that business. But this sort of payment would have firstly acknowledged her role as a mother and secondly have stepped in to give her that support and bit of financial assistance so that she could step up and keep that business going. 
It is with great pride that the National Party stands up for this. The select committee process was interesting. I take my hat off and give credit to the chair Mark Gosche. He ran a very good meeting. I must say I had a couple of questions at different times because the process was quite new to me. He was extremely open in making sure those questions were answered and that at the end of the day we all felt fully informed and had put in our 2 cents’ worth. On behalf of the National Party I thank the people who made submissions. They were worthwhile. The rural women came in. They talked about how the bill would help them in their farming community. I was a little surprised at New Zealand First.