Tolley Anne: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTolley Anne: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 05 November 2014. Volume:701;Page:681. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Social Development):I just want to pick up on a couple of things that the previous speaker Sue Moroney has said. First of all she talked about good faith and trying to get agreement with the Government. I would have thought that if you are talking good faith and getting agreement from the Government the first thing you would do is come and talk to us but no one talked to me. So actually where is that good faith?Sue Moroney: You’re not the responsible Minister.Hon ANNE TOLLEY: Yes well—The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): Well I am certainly not.Hon ANNE TOLLEY: No Mr Chair—I do beg your pardon. The previous speaker could have come and talked beforehand in time for the Government to have the opportunity to discuss it because that is my understanding of good faith. It is not just about saying: “This is what we are going to do what do you think?”. It is about a genuine conversation taking place and people having time to consider it and make the appropriate decisions. So that is just to put that on the table.But also when we are talking about paid parental leave as we are in clause 5 and the duration of that leave I just think that this Committee before we get carried away with all the arguments should focus on what exactly this Government has done. This Government has pledged and budgeted for an extra $171.8 million over the next 4 years for paid parental leave enhancements.The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): I regret to interrupt the honourable Minister but I think I warned at the beginning that we are now on a quite narrow debate. Although I understand that the Minister is responding to the comments of the member in the chair which I probably should have pulled up I fear that if I let her go on I am going to have to let everyone else get well away from it.Hon ANNE TOLLEY: My understanding looking at clause 5 of the bill is we are talking about the duration of paid parental leave being extended to a maximum of 18 weeks a maximum of 22 weeks and then a maximum of 26 weeks. We are talking about a progression of the rollout of paid parental leave. That is what I want to address because in fact this Government has already agreed to that and as I say that is a considerable amount of money that this Government has committed to extending paid parental leave. What we are saying is that rather than spending all the money on paid parental leave at the same time we are doing other things as well. Indeed around paid parental leave as well as extending the time as proposed in clause 5 we are also extending the reach of it. In an area like the one that I represent East Coast where there is a lot of seasonal work that is just as important as the length of time of the paid parental leave. This Government has said that it is not just about how long you get that paid parental leave; it is about who is eligible for it. That is just as important.I appreciate it is a narrow discussion but it is an important concept. The Government is being accused of not wanting to spend this money on protecting our children and giving them a good start in life. The Government’s position is that we are saying yes of course we are but we are doing it in another way around paid parental leave a way that is not focused on just the length of time that you give it to a certain group of women. We are saying that yes that is important and we are agreeing and extending the time but we are also extending the scope of paid parental leave which is just as important. So another group of women are eligible for that paid parental leave which is indeed what the member tried to do in the previous clause. That is an important fact about clause 5. This Government realises and does accept that we do need to extend the paid parental leave. We have set out a process to do that but we are not dancing to the tune of this particular clause in this particular bill.