Labour's parental leave election pledge has been welcomed by an expert, who stressed the importance of flexibility for new parents.
The proposal would see primary caregivers' partners receive four weeks of paid leave.
If implemented, the scheme would be phased in from July next year in addition to the two weeks of unpaid leave that partners are entitled to. The leave scheme will be paid for by the government and would cost $230 million over four years, according to the party.
It comes only two weeks after Labour MPs voted down National Party legislation that could've allowed parents more options to share their leave entitlements — including the flexibility to take paid time off together.
KPMG's Matt Prichard told Breakfast that the accounting giant offers 18 weeks paid parental leave each for both parents, taken any time in the first two years of the baby's life.
Parenting Place's Holly Brooker and KPMG's Matt Prichard discussed Labour's big election pledge. (Source: Breakfast)
"It's such a normal thing for people to become parents that we need to be great at it for both men and women in the workplace, that's why we introduced the policy," Prichard said, adding the company aimed for a 50-50 gender split.
"We have gender balance in our workplace, so why wouldn't there be as many men taking parental leave as women?"
He said being able to choose "when and who takes leave" is important.
Holly Brooker of the Parenting Place said: "Any support that we can give whānau in those first few weeks or months is going to be incredible, it is such an intense time.
Chris Hipkins defended the choice to oppose National's plan. (Source: Breakfast)
"It's great to see these policies coming into play."
Asked whether it was enough, Brooker said it's hard to say.
"Whatever we can get for that additional time of someone else at home to support the main caregiver and baby is going to be absolutely amazing, it's also a really nice time for the partner to be able to step in and bond with the baby," she said.
She agreed with Prichard that flexibility is "so important".
"There's so many things that can happen in our parenting journey," she said.
"Every whānau is so different, so having flexibility will be pretty key."
The proposal
Currently, paid parental leave is for six months and can be transferred from one partner to another. That means partners can share the parental leave, but only separately, not at the same time.
Under Labour's proposed scheme, a partner would be eligible for the leave, regardless of whether the primary carer is eligible for paid parental leave.
The scheme would start on July 1, 2024, at two weeks, and progressively expand to three weeks by July 2025, and four weeks by July 2026.
National's alternative
Labour's announcement today comes only two weeks after the Government shunned a member's bill by National's deputy leader Nicola Willis that would've given parents more flexibility about how to use their paid parental leave.
Willis' bill had proposed to keep leave entitlements the same, but allow parents to overlap when they take paid leave.
National has pledged to push the bill through in its first 100 days if it wins the election.
Hipkins said that Labour was concerned the bill would undermine the intention of the Government's extension of paid parental leave to six months.
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