Logie Jan: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave and Work Contact Hours) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLogie Jan: Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave and Work Contact Hours) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 16 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6745. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JAN LOGIE (Green): I rise to take a short call on Sue Moroney’s bill on paid parental leave. It is a great pleasure to be able to stand up again and talk to this issue an issue that is dear to my heart.I was in the community working for the Young Women’s Christian Association of Aotearoa back in 2001 in the campaign to get 12 weeks’ paid parental leave. We worked very closely with the then Minister of Women’s Affairs Laila Harré in the battle to get this through. Believe me it was a protracted battle to get that basic provision when New Zealand was so far behind in global terms.Sadly 13 years on we are still so far behind in global terms and it is appalling to be having to make the same basic arguments about the value of extended paid parental leave in 2015 particularly when last term this House went through the debate and we had well over 3000 submissions from the public of New Zealand. Of them 99.6 percent I think told this House that for them 6 months was a priority that they had their own experience about what would work and that 6 months was that benchmark for them.We heard that from women we heard that from their partners and we also heard that from employers. Employers were telling us that 6 months was much easier to manage because when you have got a shorter time period you actually get to that point of going “Will I find somebody to fill in when it is 3 months or not? Will I just kind of try to juggle and get extra people to work longer or do the extra jobs to cover that time?” and for most of them that is what they have been doing.They said that if it was 6 months it would be that benchmark to enable them to say: “OK actually we’ll advertise this position and get somebody else in for this time period.” That would be easier for them to manage and that would also help people in our community get extra work and work experience to fill in in that time. Of course most crucially—or one aspect that is crucial—it would enable the women who are going on paid parental leave to keep their job.We heard from so many women about going into the workforce once their paid parental leave was up and actually still breastfeeding still being up right through the night not being able to manage and actually leaving their jobs. That has a very long-term consequence for our economy as well as for the economy of those households let alone the well-being of the babies which of course is at the heart of the point of this bill.We know that attachment in those first 6 months is critical. We know that the health and the development and the cognitive abilities of babies are strengthened from 6 months of breastfeeding. It is very hard to work full time and breastfeed a baby. That is just a practical reality of life.I certainly would like to see us have much more provision in terms of supporting fathers or partners to be able to be there in that early time of life but we also have to recognise the importance of the attachment between that primary parent and breastfeeding. That is a core part of what this bill is about and why it is so critical that we have 6 months and nothing less.Obviously the Green Party policy is 13 months’ paid parental leave and that is about enabling that time for the family and their establishment. It is not unreasonable in international terms because it is an investment and it pays off. At the heart of our society everything is about our people and our environment and this is one of the small things that we could do in this House to recognise the importance of people in this country.So the Greens are very proud to be supporting this bill yet again and I have a skerrick of hope that this time the will of the country will triumph.