Inside Parliament: Changes for Paid Parental Leave - 'It gave National an easy hit'

The Paid Parental Leave bill was finally passed in Parliament on Thursday but not without controversy after being debated countless times.

The Labour-led Government passed its first piece of legislation in government - the highly publicised bill to increase paid parental leave from 18 to 22 weeks, and eventually 26 weeks in 2020.

It was the first government bill to be passed since the election.

On Inside Parliament this week, 1 NEWS' political team discussed the developments of paid parental leave and how Labour backtracked and compromised with National over simultaneous paid parental leave after previously shutting down attempts by the opposition.

As the law stands, both parents can share paid parental leave, but are unable to make use of it together.

"This week we have seen confirmation from Labour that yes it will take up National's proposal for this shared parental leave," political reporter Katie Bradford said. 

"I don't think that were was any ever doubt that Labour were going to do that... the doubt was around when they will do it, how they will do it and how they could get the credit for it.

"It gave National an easy hit."

Andrea Vance stated "the end goal was the same, it took them such a long time to get there. They both wanted the same thing...you can see why the public is so disillusioned with politics."

To listen to the full Inside Parliament podcast, click here .