Gosche Mark: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Paid Parental  Leave for Self-Employed Persons) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Gosche Mark: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Paid Parental  Leave for Self-Employed Persons) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:628;Page:594] 
Hon MARK GOSCHE (Labour—Maungakiekie) 
: 
 It is good to be speaking in this debate and I am looking forward to the bill coming to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee where I am sure we will deal with it as quickly and as expeditiously as possible.  
It was interesting to hear some of the speeches tonight. I certainly agreed with Peter Brown’s sentiment that things should have happened a lot sooner. I think it should have been backdated 28 years for everybody—I think that is how old my daughter is now—but unfortunately I did not succeed in getting that bit of policy through. However I was somewhat surprised to hear Dr Wayne Mapp say that people really did not want this.  
Dr Wayne Mapp 
: I didn’t say that at all. 
Hon MARK GOSCHE 
: Maybe I misheard the member. I thought he said that parents should get tax cuts instead and that they hated having to apply for these sorts of things. Well I have noted that since 2002 52000 working parents have benefited from this Government’s wonderful policy. Not one of them has complained to me. I ask any members of this House who agree with Wayne Mapp to put their hands up and say that all those people have complained to them that paid parental leave is something they do not want. People call Wayne Mapp “the eradicator”. He is eradicating the National Party’s vote with every speech of that sort that he makes. At least Katherine Rich had the sense to recognise a good policy when she saw it and she indicated that the National Party would— 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: She benefited from it. 
Hon MARK GOSCHE 
: Yes she benefited substantially more than what this bill will give to people.  
Yet again the Government is moving policy forward. We get a little bit tired of Opposition politicians talking about being family friendly and having family values when we hear that whingeing sort of speech about how parents really want tax cuts instead of this policy. We will be very interested when we get to the end of the process and the bill has been through the select committee to see what the National Party does. Does it want to eradicate more votes as “the eradicator” said or does it want to vote for sensible policies that put families at the forefront? I think the Minister should be congratulated. Other changes in the bill will be useful in terms of speeding up some of the processes if there is a problem about eligibility. Also as the Maori Party speaker said some people want to go forth and multiply much more quickly than others. The bill allows that to happen because now a parent will be eligible for paid parental leave after only 6 months of work rather than the 12 months in the current legislation.  
This bill is yet again the work of a very good Minister and a very good Government and a very good select committee will put this bill through the select committee process. We are looking forward to the cooperation of all members of the select committee in getting submissions in. We will call for submissions this week so that there is plenty of time over January and February for the public to make their submissions then we will come back and make sure that this House passes the bill in good time which is what the parents of this country want. It is a good bill.