Babies invade Parliament over paid parental leave

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VIDEO: Babies invade Parliament

3News NZ

(Photo: 3 News/Emma Jolliff)

(Photo: 3 News/Emma Jolliff)

By 3 News online staff

Babies, toddlers and their parents have descended on Parliament this morning after Labour’s bill to extend paid parental leave passed its first hurdle.

The bill, which would see paid parental leave changed from 14 weeks to 26 weeks, passed its first reading last night despite the Government not supporting it.

  • Watch the video for Emma Jolliff's story on issue

This morning, 26 babies, toddlers and their parents gathered at Parliament to launch a new ‘26 For Babies’ coalition.

Spokesperson Deborah Morris-Travers says the group wants to get the public behind the bill.

“Now the bill is going to Select Committee, the public can make submissions and all of the social and economic benefits of longer paid parental leave can be considered,” she said.

“Paid parental leave enables a mother or father to invest time in the health, wellbeing and secure attachment of their infant.”

She says all political parties need to work together to make extended paid parental leave a reality.

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Comments

1/08/2012 9:19:24 a.m.

Julia wrote:

Erm - I think everyone realises that the money is not "magicked" as you say...but as others have pointed out the people who want paid parental leave are people who have been paying taxes and it seems only fair that they are the ones who get some use from those taxes. I personally would rather my tax money was spent on the health and well being of the children of our nation than on building new sports stadiums etc. The children are the greatest asset we have! By your way of thinking there should be no benefits or support system, I truly hope you never require the support of our system, for an injury/ illness acc or sickness benefit...that money is not 'magicked' either.

27/07/2012 3:45:48 a.m.

alison wrote:

It takes a village to raise a child. Ever heard this saying. If you take away the politics and use your morals you know this is right. I hope they get it.

26/07/2012 5:33:09 p.m.

Cheryl wrote:

Labour does really think money grow's on trees. Poeple need to plan for children - it's about personal responsibilty. Unfortunately socialism as promoted by Labour and the Greens does not believe in self responsibility - they believe the state should take control of families.

26/07/2012 3:21:57 p.m.

jk wrote:

Thats a ridiculous comment! The people who are asking for paid parental leave are people who have been in full time work for over a year in my case 12 years with the same employer (paying taxes!) and plan to return to work. What hope is there for our next generation if babies are stuck straight into chilcare with little chance of bonding, breastfeeding or secure attachment. Surely paying a decent amount of parental leave not only invests in the future of New Zealand (breast feeding for a year has been proved to reduce the incidence of asthma, diabeties, allergies, childhood cancer and aid with bonding) but also allows parents to return to there previous jobs after a year and continue to pay taxes instead of stopping work completely and claiming a benefit.

26/07/2012 2:21:14 p.m.

Geoff wrote:

It saddens me to see the emotional blackmail card being pulled here, exploiting children in the process. I do hope Labour has had no involvement in orchestrating this poor tasting publicity stunt.

26/07/2012 1:29:25 p.m.

Amy wrote:

ERM you can only get paid parental leave if you have been working... so technically they have contributed to this. I would have been more likely to return to work if the paid parental leave had been longer. However at 3 months I wasn't ready to put her into care. I would have been paying tax again and contributing. But now I am taking the year unpaid. I really think 26 weeks would benefit all parents and babies.

26/07/2012 12:13:04 p.m.

Erm... wrote:

Don't these people realise that the money from this comes from everyone else? It doesn't get magic'd from elsewhere, it comes from the pockets of other people who are struggling. Be realistic, guys - if you can't afford children, then don't have them! Don't expect everyone else to pick up the tab for you!