Labour leader Chris Hipkins is defending his party's promise to increase paid parental leave (PPL) for partners by four months, despite earlier blocking a National Party Bill that would've allowed parental leave to be split.
Hipkins said on Tuesday Labour would commit to four weeks of paid partner's leave if re-elected, which could be taken concurrently or consecutively with the primary carer's leave.
"Our new scheme will further expand access to parental leave by ensuring that even if the primary carer is caring and isn't entitled to PPL, their partner can take up to four weeks leave to be with them," he said in a statement.
"This policy helps support the entire family unit in those crucial early days [and] will support a return to [the] workforce in the longer term.
"In uncertain economic times, we need simple, clear and smart policies which provide targeted help, practical cost of living support and make things a little easier."
Hipkins' promise comes despite Labour earlier this month blocking a bid by National's Nicola Willis to let parents take parental leave at the same time.
The Labour leader was asked by AM co-host Laura Tupou on Tuesday why the party blocked National's Bill before making its own paid parental leave proposal.
"This is adding an additional entitlement that can be taken at the same time," Hipkins said of Labour's promise. "The National Party's Bill was basically to split an existing entitlement so, overall, reduce the overall amount of time at home."
He said Labour's pledge would increase the amount of time families could spend at home should they wish to do so.
"The official advice that we had was the National Party's Bill was unimplementable, so we've said that we will review the paid parental leave legislation in total to make sure that we've got the right flexibility in there for parents."
Willis was angry Labour blocked her Bill.
"What a shameful day," she said at the time.
"Whether you're a dad wanting to support Mum in the first few weeks after birth, or you want to divide your paid leave entitlement between two primary caregivers in overlapping instalments, the choice should be yours. But Labour wants to stop you."
Hipkins, however, said Willis' Bill "simply could not be implemented" as drafted.
Labour's proposed scheme would be phased in from July next year if the party was voted back in.
"The overall cost… it starts at about $35 million in the first year and increases to about $75 million," he told AM. "So it's about $235 million over the four-year period that the Government Budget spans."
While there wouldn't be much additional cash available during the next election cycle, "this will be one of the small number of new spending initiatives that we're taking" into the campaign, he said.
