Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) (3-Day Postnatal Stay) Amendment Bill

on behalf of the Minister of Health: I move, That the Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) (3-Day Postnatal Stay) Amendment Bill be now read a third time.

It is a privilege to rise for probably my last time to speak in the 54th Parliament for the third reading of this bill. The legislation delivers on a clear commitment of this Government and significantly strengthens post-natal care for mothers and their babies across New Zealand. It ensures an entitlement of a minimum of three days of in-patient post-natal care that is delivered in a way that is safe, responsible, practical, and sustainable. It is reinforced by a significant increase in funding for maternity care provided in this year’s Budget.

This bill was introduced as a member’s bill by Catherine Wedd, who should be applauded for her advocacy. She ensured that post-natal care received the attention it deserves in this House. She has been a credit to this issue, and I’m very proud that we’re able to get this bill passed. This Government was proud to adopt the bill because we agreed with the importance of guaranteeing mothers the option of three days of in-patient post-natal care when that is right for them and their baby.

Taking this bill forward gives effect to commitments in the New Zealand First - National coalition agreement to ensure proper funding for birthing units and maternity care, including a three-day stay for new mothers. It reflects our view that post-natal care matters both for the health of the mother and baby and for the longer-term health and wellbeing for their entire family.

I want to thank the very hard-working Health Committee—and specifically the chair, Sam Uffindell—for its careful consideration of this bill and to thank those who made submissions, including clinicians, midwives, maternity providers, and organisations. There was a wide support for providing greater clarity and consistency in post-natal care, and that feedback has directly informed the version of the bill now before the House.

This Government is backing this legislation with a significant financial uplift of $34.4 million over four years through Budget 2026. This funding will ensure Health New Zealand has the resource available to build post-natal capacity, strengthen the maternity workforce, and implement the three-day post-natal stay safely. It gives the system the certainty it needs to plan and deliver high-quality post-natal care for mothers and babies across the country.

The Government has made a number of important changes as part of this bill’s adoption as a Government bill. Firstly, the bill now provides for phased implementation of the three-day in-patient post-natal stay. Health New Zealand has been clear that increasing the workforce and capacity to deliver on three days of in-patient maternity across the country will take time. The bill, therefore, commences immediately on Royal assent, with a transitional period during which access to longer in-patient stays will be progressively expanded as capacity grows.

Health New Zealand will be required to publish an annual capacity plan setting out how in-patient post-natal capacity will be increased over a three-year period. Those plans must be approved by the Minister of Health, and Health New Zealand must give effect to them. This approach ensures the arrangements under the bill are implemented in a safe, well-managed, and responsible way. It gives the maternity workforce and, equally importantly, mothers confidence that this entitlement will be delivered safely.

In the early stages of implementation, first-time mothers will be prioritised, recognising that they often have the greatest need for additional support as they navigate childbirth and early parenthood for the first time. Alongside this, there will be a focus on districts where capacity has to lift the most. Over time, as capacity increases, the entitlement to three days of in-patient care will be extended to all eligible mothers, culminating in full delivery of the entitlement by 1 July 2029.

The bill also includes exemption arrangements providing that the entitlement does not apply in exceptional circumstances, such as a civil defence emergency, an epidemic, or other serious disruption that is outside Health New Zealand’s control. This exemption is tightly constrained. It does not apply to routine system pressure, such as staffing shortages or bed availability. It cannot be used as a way to manage capacity constraints; rather, it is a safeguard to ensure that the system can continue to operate safely in circumstances where strict compliance would create risk to mothers and babies.

Taken together, these amendments strengthen the bill. They preserve its purpose while ensuring it can be implemented safely, sustainably, and at scale. This bill guarantees mothers the choice to remain in in-patient post-natal care for at least three days after childbirth. It places that entitlement clearly in law. Some mothers may choose to return home earlier, supported by community-based services and their families, as they do now. Other mothers will stay longer because they require more extended in-patient hospital care. This bill guarantees mothers the right to at least three days of in-patient post-natal care when they choose it. It recognises that physical recovery, bonding with the new baby, establishing breastfeeding, and gaining confidence as new parents all take time, and it recognises that no mother should feel unsure about what care she can expect or feel pressured to leave before she feels ready.

Fundamentally, this bill reflects the Government’s broader approach to the health system—more accountability, more efficiency, and the focus on delivering better outcomes for patients. We believe in using taxpayers’ money responsibly, and we believe in making full and effective use of all capable providers across the system, whether they operate in the public or private sector. Post-natal care in New Zealand is already delivered through a mix of public hospitals, primary maternity care units, and contracted providers, including community and private facilities. This bill recognises that reality and strengthens it.

Primary maternity units, whether publicly or privately operated, play a vital role in delivering safe, high-quality in-patient post-natal care closer to home. For many women, these settings are more appropriate than a large public hospital. They support continuity of care, offer genuine choice, and reduce pressure on hospital wards. The Government makes no apology for backing capacity wherever it delivers outcomes. Many community facilities will be closer to home, meaning mothers can be with their families after childbirth. Not every family lives close to a hospital. We are confident in the ability of community providers to contribute to high-quality care. We are confident in partnerships that improve efficiencies and expand capacity, and we are committed to ensuring all providers are held to clear standards and accountability.

This bill sends a strong signal that this Government values effective delivery wherever it exists. That is good for mothers, it is good for families, and it is good for the health system as a whole.

The bill now before the House for its third reading is clear in its purpose, and balanced in its design. It delivers a coalition commitment, it includes arrangement that will ensure its implementation occurs in a well-managed and sustainable way, and, most importantly, it significantly strengthens the healthcare entitlements for mothers and babies, with significant additional resources provided in this year’s Budget. This is good lawmaking, this is responsible Government, and this is exactly what New Zealanders expect from us. I commend the bill to the House.

💬 DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Well, I’m happy to make those contribution to vote in favour of this Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) (3-Day Postnatal Stay) Amendment Bill. The bill is founded on a sentiment I’m sure we all can agree with.

We have, throughout the course of this bill, asked questions about the resourcing of the bill. It’s good to see that a commitment was made in order to make sure the resourcing is in place—though it would be important to point out that a commitment that was made to deliver this during the electoral term has actually been pushed out to 2029. It has been difficult for us at both the select committee process for this bill and at Estimates to scrutinise the resourcing and its adequacy for this particular commitment. But I guess the next Parliament will see.

One of the changes to the bill in the course of its life has been the deferred start until 2029, the addition of an implementation plan, as I’ve mentioned. But the other is the discussion about the information about a requirement, the content about a requirement for lead maternity carers to tell pregnant women their obligation or their entitlement has been removed. I think that’s a backwards step. It is precisely those women who are unaware of their entitlement who probably need it the most. It is a way in which the equitable outcomes of this entitlement are potentially undermined. And that’s a shame because one of the purposes, I would have thought, of putting an entitlement into law, which is usually left for operational delivery in the health system—but putting it into law, it should actually be that everyone would know about it, and then that would be able to make sure that everyone enjoyed the same benefits of it. So it’s a shame that opportunity was missed, but, with those caveats in mind, I commend this bill to the House.

Thank you for the opportunity to rise to make a call on behalf of the Green Party. This is a very important bill that obviously has unanimous support around the House. I would like to acknowledge the MP Catherine Wedd for the work that she did on her member’s bill that the Government took up. The Green Party also commend this bill to the House. Kia ora.

I rise on behalf of ACT in support of this bill. At one of the most magical and sensitive times in the cycle of life, people are in deep need of support—mothers, in particular—and it is difficult to oppose the goodwill and the intention of this bill to give security of tenure in a hospital at that particular time. Three days, no pressure.

I think it’s fair to say that sceptical and thoughtful people together might question the apparatus that is being constructed to ensure that that happens and whether such an apparatus is really necessary or whether that might be better to leave in the hands of those who know, those midwives, those who run hospitals, those charge nurses, and, of course, the mothers and surrounding families themselves—to leave in their hands the decision about how long to stay and who should stay what length of time.

That is a view that I have to say I have some sympathy for, but in the spirit of our coalition Government, we support this legislation. We will see, in the goodness of time, whether the construction of this bureaucratic apparatus is indeed necessary to achieve a very noble objective or whether it might have been simpler to leave the choices and the decisions up to the people who do this stuff every day. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

It’s a pleasure to be able to rise in support of the Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) (3-Day Postnatal Stay) Amendment Bill. Catherine Wedd has done a wonderful job bringing this and it has Government support and the support of a number of members around this House.

I think we can all recognise that the first 48 to 72 hours are absolutely crucial for mother and for baby and ensuring that mothers have 72 hours—and more, if needed—in hospital or in a birthing centre to care for themselves and their baby is really essential to getting those first steps right. And also making sure that they are informed of their choices to have their entitlement. This should reduce the risk of complications. This should enhance those very special first few days and make them a much better experience.

I’d like to thank the committee for all of their work on this and for all the other work the Health Committee has done this term. It’s been a pleasure to chair. I’d like to congratulate this House on putting this through. I commend the bill to the House.

[Authorised reo Māori text to be inserted by the Hansard Office.]

[Authorised translation to be inserted by the Hansard Office.]

I just want to thank the member for bringing this bill to Parliament and acknowledge Catherine Wedd and the select committee and the process of getting this to a third reading today. It’s absolutely crucial—we’ve heard it from a bipartisan support across the House—the first 48 to 72 hours between a mother and child for post-natal care and stay within a hospital. So it’s a no-brainer to support this bill. It’s crucial and needed within our healthcare system and within the many different wāhine and pēpē who are born. Te Pāti Māori supports this bill and commends the member for bringing it to Parliament.

Of sudden unexpected deaths, 63 percent occur within the first 13 weeks. So it’s absolutely crucial to bring this in. This is 50 percent more than the unexpected death in infancy—this is 50 percent more now than when New Zealand cot death study first started in the 1980s.

[Authorised reo Māori text to be inserted by the Hansard Office.]

[Authorised translation to be inserted by the Hansard Office.]

I’m here to support the Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) (3-Day Postnatal Stay) Amendment Bill. Of course, as we all bring our personal experience to this, I was in the very fortunate situation of being able to go home to a supportive home pretty immediately. That’s what I wanted to do. My first son was born at 10.30 at night, so we stayed in overnight; second son was jolly well nearly born in the car park—maybe explains his fondness for cars—and we were able to go and we actually went and took a library display down, if I remember rightly, immediately afterwards. But our situation should not define what people have the choice about.

I think it’s really important—sometimes the maternal health or the baby health mean you need to stay in longer. Sometimes, home may not be that peaceful; there may be other children, there may be overcrowding, and so on. So I think the idea that you should very clearly have the opportunity to stay in hospital for three days is useful.

But it has been brought to my attention—particularly by our health spokesperson, Hūhana Lyndon—that it’s all very well changing the law, but if you don’t change the resourcing, it’s a bit abstract. So if there is not room, if the corridors are full of people in emergency situations, if there are not enough staff, if the staff have been on such long shifts that they can’t give the attention they need to mother or baby, there are a whole load of other issues that need to be solved to make this really work.

I know there have been different narratives about the level of staffing, and it’s not my area of speciality. I’m not going to charge in and say whether it’s 54 or whether it’s some other number, but the training of midwives and the training of support workers that are not necessarily fully qualified as midwives is really under pressure. There are too many going overseas and not staying here, and not able to help Kiwi mums.

I also find it—maybe “hypocritical” is too strong a word. Maybe it’s just a little bit blinkered to say that for three days, we’re going to look after you, and then we’re going to go back to—what is it? What awful percentage is it of children in poverty—children in homes that are damp, mouldy, unsafe, where the families, if they’re in a rental home, have no security of tenure? They won’t know that that little baby will be able to go to the same preschool or the same school as their siblings, because there is no-cause eviction.

So it’s a little bit of nice glimmer, and sometimes that’s what members’ bills do. They address a small and specific issue, and we get agreement around the Table, but unless we can address the systemic issues that mean that when the mother and baby, or babies—twins, triplets, or whatever. Probably, if they’re triplets, they might be in for a little bit longer. If we don’t make sure that those first 1,000 days of childhood are warm, well-fed, loved, whether it’s a Plunket nurse or some other person who comes round to make sure the baby is going to thrive, not just survive, and that the mother’s potential post-natal depression is addressed by good mental health services—if we don’t do that, then this is just a random flag blowing in the wind of public health underfunding. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It is a real pleasure to speak on this last bill that’s going through the 54th Parliament. To extend the right to a post-natal stay of three days is, I think, an extremely sensible approach. It shows that this Government cares about the early lives of the most vulnerable New Zealanders: those early little babies and their mothers.

When a woman goes through the postpartum experience, within those first three days she will experience one of the most humungous hormonal changes that a person can go through. It is an extremely delicate and sensitive time, and often a time when the breastfeeding is being established and those bonds are being made. For that reason, it’s important that we focus on this time. It’s another way that we are supporting women’s health, and I commend this bill to the House.

Kia ora, Madam Assistant Speaker Pugh. Thank you. First of all, I just want to wish you well—your last day is today—and I’d also like to wish Celia Wade-Brown well, too.

I am tempted to tell my own story, but I thought I’d tell my mother’s, because I think we have to look at this in terms of the history of maternity care. At the time my mother had me, she was supposed to stay in that hospital for two weeks, and that was the norm in New Zealand society. By the time I was having my first baby, my doctor wanted me to leave the hospital straight away with my first baby, and it was one of the hospital midwives who picked up a major issue within the first few hours and my baby ended up in intensive care. Quite frankly, if I’d gone home, I would not have seen the signs that were there of serious pneumonia. He ended up in intensive care, and so it was incredibly important that there wasn’t pressure put on people to move me out of that system, even though my own instincts were to flee.

I have got to say that with my second child, I left that hospital with my baby within about an hour and a half of giving birth, and I know that that’s fairly extreme, but I did. The care that we have been giving people has been decreasing and decreasing and decreasing.

I absolutely take Celia Wade-Brown’s point that we really do need to have a think about that phrase, which is so strong in the Labour Party, of cradle to grave. We really do need to think about the wraparound support for our families because it is so hard at the moment to have a child in New Zealand. Most people in New Zealand rent, and they don’t have security of rental. Most people are going into homes that are not necessarily the best places for babies to go into. They need more support than we’re giving them, and it can’t just stop after three days’ stay.

I went into the select committee for just a short period because I am not on the Health Committee, but I was in for the submissions. I represented the midwives for quite a long time when I was a lawyer, and so I was well aware of staff shortages with midwives, and the fact was that we had had a dispute where they couldn’t take any industrial action because they didn’t have safe staff numbers—because they had been promised that would happen as part of their agreement and it had never happened. We have a real issue with the shortage of midwives, and we have an issue with the fact that we don’t have enough nurses and other staff in our hospitals, and so it was pointed out to us in that select committee process was that it’s a lovely idea, but the risk was that we would rob Peter to pay Paul and we would end up giving this care here but taking it from others.

I think we’ve been living in a society where there is way too much scarcity. It is always the situation where people are competing for resource, and, actually, there are some fundamental bottom lines as to what our job is. We are not running a business, in Government. That is not our job. We are not a business—we are not Air New Zealand. We are a country, and we have to choose our values, and then we should run our Government according to those values and according to the needs of our population.

Right now, our population is not well served, and so I commend the objective of letting women stay in hospital for three days—and I have told you why, at a very personal level, that matters to me. I also think that we need to follow up, as Celia Wade-Brown has said, on some of those other fundamentals. We need to join the dots.

It is too hard for people to have children. Because it is too expensive, it has become an issue that is absolutely about affordability. People cannot afford to live well in this country, and they are doing great things in this country, but they are not being well served. They are not well served, because there is still an absolutely biblical reliance on the belief in trickle-down economics.

Trickle-down economics has never worked. It is not well-founded, and anybody who wants to look at it will see that. Trickle-down economics is not the way through here. We have to think about the building blocks of our society. The first thing we need to do is make sure that people are actually in work and that they’re in decent work, with decent wages, and we have to recognise the value of the work they’re doing that may not have had recognition in the past.

Now, things like caregiving are going to become incredibly important in the future, but they’re important now. Caregivers, midwives, nurses—they are the backbone of our society. They are the people who are the true heroes and we need to start to reward that work, and we do have to look at the mechanisms with which we do that. This Government cancelled pay equity, and when it did that, it made a big mistake. This Government told us that it had hired a whole lot of nurses when, in fact, there had been a nurse freeze, and in fact, there were 54 nurses employed. That has caused issues and will cause issues with regard to this bill. It will not work if we do that and we take that mentality in.

I’ve got three kids, and my youngest one, she works in an area I highly value. She works as a teacher with children who are high needs. She has seven of them. There are lots of days when she gets hit because of the nature of that work. I want her to be able to stay doing that work, and I still want her to be able to buy a house. I don’t want her to miss out on those things in my very community where she grew up. I’d like her to be able to buy a house near me where I can wraparound and support her so that when she has a baby and she has been actually given this three days, she doesn’t come home to a place where she doesn’t have that support because she can’t afford to live in the community she grew up in. These things are interconnected.

I go back to what I said at the beginning—what are the values here? Cradle to grave was a beautiful ambition—cradle to grave. This has got a little bit of cradle in it, and I’m pleased to see a little bit of cradle in it, but there are years and years of support required. It starts, for me, with work, and it doesn’t end there. I’m not afraid to look at the connection between this bill and all the other things we need. It also starts with walking away from an old fashioned, absolutely morally barren concept like trickle-down economics. It’s not just about growing the pie; it’s about who gets the pie, and it’s about our value system as a society.

I hope that this bill is fulfilled and we have three days care offered to women in New Zealand, and I would personally love to see every person informed—because that was taken out of the bill—and every person who goes into hospital to have that baby told that they have that right, because that’s a really important way of making sure that the very people who need it get this care, and not just the assertive ones who know their rights and know the law, because that is part of the divide in this country. I hope we get this, but I hope we get a lot more.

I hope that that child goes home to a house, whether they rent or they own, which is warm and dry, that has curtains in it to keep the heat in, and I hope that that child gets looked after by our community, not just their parents scraping by. I hope that that mother and father have got access to good childcare, and I hope that they are also in a position to choose a life for their children which is not just scraping by—not desperate, not stressed. That’s what I see in my community at the moment. I see desperate and stressed, and I hope we can do better.

Look, I’m so excited to see this three-day stay bill pass today. Supporting better postnatal care is a huge victory for mothers across New Zealand. I would like to acknowledge Minister Louise Upston for starting this journey, and then I picked it up as a member’s bill, and I’ve been advocating for better post-natal care in New Zealand since I came to Parliament, so it’s great to see the progress and delivery here today.

No mother should have to leave hospital before she is ready after having a baby. Those first few days bonding with your baby are so important for setting mothers and babies up for a lifetime of success. This bill will give mothers a legal entitlement to three days stay if they choose, and now we have funding, the maternity beds, staffing, and resourcing needed to make this happen. This is about providing meaningful support for new mums at a time when they need it most. We know that every birth is different, and every family situation is different. A three-day stay may not be right for everyone, but for those who need it, this bill provides the choice for them to remain in hospital and receive the care that they need if they choose.

The first few days after having a baby are so precious and special. They are the time for mothers to rest, recover, and begin bonding without the pressure of having to manage everything alone. It is also a time when mothers are learning how to care for their baby—feeding, bathing, sleeping, there is so much to learn and it can be so overwhelming, and we can relate to those sleepless nights and that exhaustion. Having access to midwives, nurses, lactation support, and other maternity professionals can make an enormous difference to a mother’s experience and the confidence she gets from that to recover, and it’s so important for the wellbeing of the baby too.

We often talk about the first 1,000 days of a child’s life as being important for the health, wellbeing, and development, and the future of that baby; but we must also recognise that the first three days are especially important. They are the beginning of that journey, a time when mothers and babies need to bond. We must do better in New Zealand when it comes to post-natal care, and this bill helps ensure that families have the time and support that is required to recover safely and begin life together with confidence. It is about giving mothers a genuine choice and ensuring that that choice is backed by the maternity beds, staffing, and resources needed to make it real.

My advocacy for this bill was born out of my own personal experience when I felt pressured to leave the hospital when I wasn’t ready, and I believe that no mother should feel pressured to leave when she isn’t ready. To every mother across our country, we see you, we value you, and we will back you. Today is about standing up for mothers and families and protecting and supporting our babies. This is the last bill of this 54th Parliament, and I’m really proud that it is a bill that supports women and mothers across New Zealand. I commend this bill to the House.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): This is a split call.

Tēnā koe e te Mangai o te Whare. It’s a pleasure to stand and speak to the Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) (3-Day Postnatal Stay) Amendment Bill, our last bill for this Parliament. Congratulations to Catherine Wedd on your mahi in this space. I can hear that it is a big day for you, so congratulations on that. Labour supports this bill because we agree that those first few days for any new parent is so important, and it is so important that we protect that very special time for parents and families.

It’s been fun to hear the stories of parents and mothers around the House, and we all think very fondly of those times when our babies were born, probably because our brain cuts out the bits that were difficult, so we have more babies, right? Isn’t it lovely that we can reflect on those wonderful days? But they are very, very precious.

I wanted to speak in a broader sense around the application of this bill and what it will look like in practice. I had a very informative and interesting hui at River Ridge East Birth Centre based in Hamilton East. Rivier Ridge East Birth Centre was created by Claire and Warwick Hutchinson, and they were one of the first and largest birth centres in New Zealand Aotearoa. They’ve been working in that space for the past 30 years, so they were able to share a lot of stories from throughout their time. They, too, see the huge value in looking after our young parents, and I want to acknowledge the work that they do in that space and other birth centres and maternity services, parental services across New Zealand.

One of the things that we talked about, however, was the current disparities in pay between midwives that are working at hospitals and midwives that are working in the community. We know that midwives provide a lot of care building up to a birth, but also they’re so vital, after you have that baby, to establish the bonding and how to actually care for a human being, and they remain very important for those three days. The issue is that because this Government cancelled pay equity for hundreds of thousands of women across Aotearoa, they cancelled the pay equity claim for community midwives. Those community midwives were 10 days away from settling their claim—having worked on it for about three years. This has left us in a situation where, if you’re a midwife at the hospital, you get paid much more than if you’re a midwife in the community.

I 100 percent back those midwives in the hospitals getting paid well, they do incredible work, but there’s a real disparity here. And I think, as more and more people choose where to birth their baby or where to have their care, we need to make sure that there’s consistency across the board. So while we support this bill, I think there’s a little bit of a contradiction here because we’re not actually backing our midwives to do that work that is so vital to our families in New Zealand. Labour has committed to reinstating pay equity and paying women in this country what they are worth. And if we, as a Parliament, say that we back women, then let’s pay them what they are worth, which this Government has, very sadly, not done.

I want to speak a little bit to the inequities that could amount. My experience of walking into a birth centre in New Zealand, is there are a lot of white women there and not so many women from other ethnicities. I’d love to see this bill come with education around what is available to women, what services they can access, in order to get the best use of the services for every single parent in Aotearoa. The education that comes with caring for a new baby, lactation consultants, whatever that looks like, needs to be a priority for any Government to make sure our families are getting the best start in life.

That’s right, the best start for any family in New Zealand. That’s why I’m proud to stand to speak on the third reading of the last bill for the 54th Parliament, and to congratulate Minister Louise Upston, who had first started the process of providing a better start for families with newborns and their mothers. But to also carry on the banter, is our colleague Catherine Wedd, the MP for Tukituki, who’s been very present on social media and also in all interviews possible to be fighting for the best start for babies and new mothers. As a fellow female colleague in the National Party, I also congratulate all the female colleagues that I have, but also all the male colleagues who have shown support, to make sure that we have the best start for babies and their mothers in New Zealand.

As a personal experience, I remember when I first became a mother in the year 2020. I was over the moon with the coming of my first daughter, but then, before I knew, I fainted in the hospital, in the birthing room, and I couldn’t be more grateful because I wasn’t there alone; I was under care. I had all the professional care from the nurses and the doctors at the Auckland Hospital. So I was very grateful, in first-hand experience, to know that, for new mums and their new babies, we need professional care; people who know about the medical expertise but, as well, caring for the mental health and also emotional health that is needed for new mums and new dads.

So I’m very grateful and very happy to support this third reading for the Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) (3-Day Postnatal Stay) Amendment Bill, but also to note that this is a National Government who has put in the funding and the support to provide that choice—to provide that choice—for families to stay up to the three full days. And I have to emphasise that choice is very important, especially in families, now, who may feel that they are confident and experienced enough to leave should they wish to.

But also very fitting, I think, to comment, and if I may, quickly, to say that this is the last time I’ll be standing to speak in this Parliament, in this term, and to say a very happy Mid-Autumn Festival to everyone that is celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival, especially in the Chinese culture, for all Chinese-Kiwis and their families in New Zealand. The Mid-Autumn Festival is to celebrate reunion and to celebrate family. So I think it’s especially fitting that I’m standing to speak on a bill that supports family, that supports the best start of newborns and their wider family, and to celebrate them at the Mid-Autumn Festival with our wider Chinese-New Zealand community. So I wish everybody a very happy Mid-Autumn Festival.

[Authorised Mandarin text to be inserted by the Hansard Office.]

I’m just extremely proud to be part of the National Party and the National-led Government; to be supporting the better future for all New Zealanders. I commend the bill to the House.

[Authorised reo Māori text to be inserted by the Hansard Office.]

[Authorised translation to be inserted by the Hansard Office.]

This is a good piece of legislation for us to end this parliamentary term on. And can I acknowledge all of our mums out there, who take care of us in the very early stages of our life, and throughout our life, in fact. What this piece of legislation does—

💬 Hon David Seymour: Who’s going to take care of us for the next 10 minutes?

What was that, Mr Seymour?

💬 Hon David Seymour: Who’s going to take care of us for the next minutes?

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): It’s not a debate across the House.

I’ll take care of you, don’t you worry about that.

It’s important that we support our whāea, our māmās to be the best that they can be to take care of our tamariki, over all of our lives, in the periods that we need them to. This bill does that. And can I acknowledge Catherine Wedd, who I also remind that good things are growing in the Hawke’s Bay. But, yes, this investment is very important in enabling mums to get the care that they need over a three-day period. I think that’s a very good idea; to enable legislation to support that is a great outcome and a great way to finish this Parliament on.

There has been caution that has come out throughout the select committee, and it has been debated in this House, that, you know, we all know that it’s incredibly challenging times in our health system, and to enact this piece of legislation, in its totality, does require funding in other places. It does mean that resourcing has to be put in place in areas like staffing and beds to make sure that, to enable this legislation, or for our mums to be cared for at this particular period, up to three days, that it doesn’t take away from other vital services that support women within our hospital and maternity services as well. So that’s a significant part that has come out of this bill. The Ministry of Health warned that without more beds, other women’s health services could be deprioritised to make room for this. So you know, whoever is the Minister of Health after November 7, has got a big job ahead of them. It’s nothing new that there are some challenges in the sector that we need to overcome. Some of it is about resourcing and investment of that; and some of it is just about ensuring that the decisions that we make for health, for people, as politicians, are the right ones; and that investment and resourcing is going in to the right place.

So, without further ado, Labour supports the “Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) (3-Day Postnatal Stay) Amendment Bill”, and we are very happy to be able to support this legislation, support our mums out there, and, in due course, support our tamariki. We commend this bill to the House.

It is fantastic—in this final bill in the 54th Parliament—to address this House in doing what matters. This bill fundamentally recognises that mothers matter. That is exactly where the origin of this legislation started, back in 2018. We might stand here, eight years later, as if there was always unanimous support across the Parliament. In the early stages, there wasn’t. Mothers Matter is an organisation that, at the time, were advocating to ensure that women got the 48 hours that they were entitled to. That group of people who came to Parliament who had formed Mothers Matter were the late Chloe Wright, Dame Lesley Max, Nathan Wallis, Dr Anil Sharma, and Tracy O’Sullivan. They came and met with every party caucus. Who was the party that picked up the mantle? It was National. It was National who recognised that mothers matter.

That is why, in 2019, I introduced a member’s bill to extend and ensure not just the 48 hours, but actually three days post-natal stay. All of the evidence tells us how critical those first few days of a baby’s life are. And, look, if we can’t invest in the first three days of a baby’s life, seriously, what are we talking about in terms of health priorities? There was a little warning in what we just heard from the last speaker about how future health Ministers—not a National health Minister—might prioritise health funding. Well, we say, on this side of the House, that mothers matter. That is why we are here today passing the Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) (3-Day Postnatal Stay) Amendment Bill.

I do want to take the time to traverse the history, because I think it is really important that people understand that you don’t just dream up an idea and then it gets passed. In October 2019, I launched a petition in the National Party social services discussion document, where you—I may address you, as you, Maureen Pugh, member of Parliament—were involved in the caucus discussions and getting it in our discussion document because we wanted to take it out to New Zealand to say, “Is this something that is important?” We campaigned on it in election 2020. It was particularly poignant that year, because several months earlier, it was the National Party who fought for women who were forced to birth alone because they were not allowed a support person there during COVID. In March 2021, Mothers Matter continued their campaign, joined by people like Sir Peter Gluckman, Gemma McCaw, Dr Johan Morreau, and others. Then in the 2023 campaign, it was National that was campaigning on a three-day post-natal stay.

It was fantastic then when my colleague the MP for Tukituki, Catherine Wedd, picked up the member’s bill and took it further. It was then, of course, adopted by our Government, and, in Budget 2026, we funded what we knew needed to be funded to ensure the infrastructure and the workforce would be there to support it. I do want to put on record my thanks to the Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, who has been a champion of the three-day stay all of the time, and also to Minister Brown.

Let me just say this, because a number of MPs in this House have talked about how critical that time is. I remember when I sat in that caucus room, and I actually reflected it to those advocates who were here as founders of Mothers Matter. We were talking about how critical it is that mothers—new mothers—have the confidence to take on that special responsibility. I recounted my experience of being a solo mother taking home a brand-new baby. My mother had passed away a long time before, and my father had come to visit. I remember begging him not to leave me, because I was petrified about holding this tiny, wee, precious baby and not knowing if I was going to be able to be a good mum. I don’t want any mother in New Zealand to feel that way.

To me, that is why the three-day post-natal stay is personal. It is important, because no mother in New Zealand should leave a post-natal facility, a hospital, a birthing unit, like River Ridge, not feeling as if they are up to the job. It’s our job, not just as a Government but as community and as family, to give them the support and confidence that we want every single mother to have. I want to put on record: it is the National Party, time and time again, who knows that mothers matter. We have backed it in policy. We have backed it in the Budget. I’m enormously proud of the National Party delivering today for mothers.

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a third time.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): Members, as this is my final shift in the Chair, I say thank you for your contributions over the 54th Parliament. Go well. The House is adjourned until 2 p.m. today.

The House adjourned at 12.16 p.m.