17 June 2016
Every Child Counts

Decision to veto disappointing

Every Child Counts is disappointed the Government has vetoed the Paid Parental Leave Bill which would have extended leave to 26 weeks.

"Research clearly tells us that 26 weeks or 6 months is fundamental to realising the valuable benefits of paid parental leave" says Lisa Woods, Every Child Counts Executive Officer.

"It's important to remember that in a baby's world where development occurs at phenomenal speed, the addition of eight weeks that the Bill provided is significant".

The first six months is a critical period for accelerated brain development which impacts emotional control, language and habitual ways of responding - making this a significant and crucial period of development for growing well-adjusted people.

Longer paid leave would encourage deeper parental attachment - benefiting society as a whole. Investing in parental leave protects against costs arising from insecure child parent attachment. Poor outcomes for children produce high health and social costs including higher expenditure on prisons, remedial education and medical care. The Prime Minister’s Chief Scientist, Sir Peter Gluckman, is among those arguing that strong secure parent attachment helps children’s development into adulthood

At a time when parliamentarians and the public alike are signalling concern about poor outcomes for children, extending paid parental leave says that we, Aotearoa New Zealand, value our babies and understand that investing in them is the most important thing we can do as parents, as parliamentarians and as a society.

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