Logie Jan: Third Readings —Text is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLogie Jan: Third Readings —[Sitting date: 10 March 2016. Volume:711;Page:9620. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JAN LOGIE (Green):He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata he tangata he tangata. What is the most important thing in this world? It is people it is people it is people. I want to congratulate all those thousands of working New Zealanders who independently or more often through their union shared their stories and managed to claw back a modicum of dignity for themselves and other working New Zealanders. Achieving in this legislation the elimination of zero-hour contracts in this country and the extension of paid parental leave is something to celebrate. It is something for the people that has been achieved by the people. And it is an incredible honour to speak in this third reading of these bills and to see this passed into law.Work is a contribution to our society that should be valued but for all too many New Zealanders work is a place where they feel undervalued and exploited. The consequence of that is that all too many people in this country are struggling to pay their rent. They are having problems even paying for the petrol to put in their cars to get to work or when their car breaks down to be able to keep their bike in condition to be able to get to work. People in this country are struggling to put food on the table to feed themselves and their kids. That is the consequence of our current legal environment and how out of balance in favour of employers it is. This bill will sadly not fix that problem but it will and it does claw back a modicum of dignity and set that standard just that little bit higher and is a recognition of the importance of dignity in work and the value and importance of people being properly remunerated and enabled to have some stability in their lives.There were 12000 submissions on the original bill. People care people fought for this and it is a wonderful moment to see this House listening to the people. Alongside this and prior to this was Sue Moroney’s Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill for 26 weeks’ paid parental leave on which there were 3809 submissions calling for extended paid parental leave. Actually only 3795 were calling for that but it was an overwhelming call from the people of New Zealand to look after our families to give that support to our families. It is fantastic that although the Government painfully—oh so painfully—resisted delivering on the bill that was in front of the House last term the call of the people and the fight of the people have won out in the provisions that were delivered in this legislation where we see paid parental leave extended to more workers so casual and seasonal workers will now be eligible for paid parental leave. It will be provided to primary caregivers which will include the ability for foster and whāngai parents to be able to take paid parental leave a reflection of our society in legislation—about time.This legislation will also provide extra paid parental leave which Sue fought so hard to get and for which all the evidence was there for families who have babies born before 37 weeks. So this legislation is going to make a real-life difference to our families. The zero-hour contract aspect will have a particular impact for many of our children because so many families are headed by sole parents 84-plus percent of whom are women who we know are far more likely to be in part-time and casualised work. This is something for them and the Green Party is so proud to be able to give our respects to the workers who have fought and delivered this for the country. It is a start that we should be proud of.