Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill

I rise to take a call on the Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill. Comments have been coming, especially from Tracey Martin and others, who have chosen to condemn both the National Party and also its members, and they have been made in a way that really has been quite offensive to many of us because we have children, we have been raised by our own parents, and we have been in a situation where we know what it means to raise our children and to care for them. Yet that is what has been coming from the other side, especially from Mrs Tracey Martin, which I am a bit surprised about. The truth is that many of us absolutely care for children. We not only care for children; we care for parents who care for their children.

My parents came here from the Cook Islands. They did not have much. My mother was a cleaner. My dad was a labourer. They worked hard, often working two or three jobs. They did not have much. [Interruption] That is right; they were good parents, Mrs Asenati Lole-Taylor. They were good parents like your parents, I imagine. They were parents who came here with a dream and a belief that if they worked hard enough, their children would survive. To turn round and say that we do not care what happens to our parents and what happens to parents who look after children is really offensive to us because we absolutely care in so many different ways about parents who look after children and about the children themselves. We know that that is absolutely important to us.

I also want to acknowledge the fact that my colleague Chris Tremain talked about the Social Progress Index. This was measuring multiple dimensions of social progress. Really, at the heart of this—

The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson): Order! I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member. I have to advise the honourable members that the Ayes in the last vote were 60 and the Noes were 59. So, the motion that clause 1 stand part is correct, but I just want to correct the votes—60 for the Ayes and 59 for the Noes.

As I was saying, the fact is that, as my colleague Chris Tremain raised, the Social Progress Index 2014, with 132 different countries, showed that New Zealand was not only caring—

I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member. The time has come for me to report progress.

Progress to be reported presently.

House resumed.

The Chairperson reported the Summary Offences (Possession of High-power Laser Pointers) Amendment Bill without amendment, and progress on the Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill.

Report adopted.

The House adjourned at 9.58 p.m.