Woodhouse MichaelHon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. It's my pleasure to rise in support of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Bill which the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety in his intervention described as a great day for mums dads and babies. Now I certainly would agree it's a good day for those mums dads and babies and it could have been a great day. It could have been a better day—so much better.The Minister talks about flexibility and indeed I certainly agree with those sentiments. It was why as Minister last year the Employment Standards Legislation Bill provided a great deal more flexibility in enabling a far wider range of parenting arrangements and parents with different work arrangements to access paid parental leave. Casual employment was covered self-employment to some degree shorter forms of employment whāngai arrangements and extending the duration of paid parental leave to parents of premature babies all enabled a greater level of coverage and flexibility in paid parental leave.I think the Hon Amy Adams made a very good point—albeit that there's no point being churlish I think about whether the previous Government was tardy in getting to extending the duration of paid parental leave because actually Amy Adams quite rightly pointed out that if the Government when it had its chance delivered what it called for in Opposition we would be debating a bill that was putting 26 weeks of paid parental leave in right now. We're not actually because they are exercising some form of fiscal probity that they didn't show in their calls for the previous Government to increase paid parental leave through Sue Moroney's bill. I want to also acknowledge the passion if not the mathematics Sue Moroney showed for her member's bill and she should be rightly applauded and congratulated for her determined campaign on behalf of all parents I'm sure.But I do think that flexibility could've been greater. It could've been a better day for dads because let's face it it's mostly women that take on the non-paid parental responsibilities in families. I for one was fortunate enough that my partner my wife was prepared to leave all work in order to concentrate full-time on our children and that ability in those days actually to take unpaid leave was very helpful. We have an opportunity I think in the future as the Minister has acknowledged to do what we could've done in a select committee had we had the opportunity to make this bill better to acknowledge that the best arrangements for childcare are ones that are a partnership of both parents and that fathers I know really want to take a much more active role in the upbringing of their babies.But that wasn't really I don't think what this was all about. It was about Labour's repeated failure to acknowledge that parents and families are autonomous from the Government and should have a right to exercise their choice—their choice—in the manner in which the entitlements that are accorded to them through this legislation are taken. I am encouraged somewhat by the Minister's commitment to continue to look at that and I have no doubt that the Opposition spokesperson will keep his feet to the flames on that commitment.Hon Iain Lees-Galloway: Or she could just work with me.Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: Well Speakers' rulings prevent me from opening that can of worms Mr Lees-Galloway but if you want to go there—[Interruption]Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Actually I decide who breaches the rules.Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: I'll go back to another matter that the Minister raised in his intervention because what we heard today once again was the fact that under Labour no one in this country will ever get a tax cut. No one will get a tax cut and the reason is this: (a) he wants to pay for this by eliminating tax threshold changes that have already been legislated for and he'll do that because we would get more money in our pockets as MPs than lower-income people. But the most basic understanding of a progressive tax system is it is simply not possible to even adjust tax thresholds without making sure everybody who pays tax gets the benefit of that—and because we would they won't do it. There will never be another tax cut under a Labour Government and I think that's telling.But it would be churlish to finish on that rather sour revelation. It is a good bill. It is a good day. It could have been a better day.