28 February 2014

Immediate Release

Paid Parental Leave is an affordable investment, NZEI Te Riu Roa says

The best present the Government could give babies and young children on Children’s Day this Sunday would be to reverse its opposition to the extension of paid parental leave to 26 weeks, NZEI Te Riu Roa says.

The Select Committee report on Sue Moroney’s Paid Parental Leave Bill released today includes official costings showing the total net investment of taxpayer money would be less than $250 million over three years. Finance Minister Bill English claimed last year the cost would be $450-500 million.

NZEI Te Riu Roa National Secretary Paul Goulter says the new official figures show extending paid parental leave is an affordable investment. However, National MPs on the Select Committee have continued to oppose the Bill.

“ECE teachers know how important good bonding between babies and their parents is,” he says. “It’s time National Party MPs started to “walk the talk” on the rhetoric about caring for children, and put party politics aside to vote for something that will be good for New Zealand families.”

The Select Committee Report is at  http://www.parliament.nz/resource/0002196954

For more information on NZEI’s activities on Children’s Day, please visit www.beststart.org.nz

ENDS

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