The PSA today said last night’s ‘killing’ of the paid parental leave bill was a case of ‘cynical party line politics winning out over a logical and compelling case for necessary social change.’

National manager, Wendy Kazianis, said ‘the chance for Parliament to provide an overdue and much needed social right had been lost, but only temporarily.

‘It is obvious it has the backing of the majority of New Zealanders and clearly parental leave can now be seen as a specific election issue,’ she said.

Paid parental leave will be a big advance for working women and a positive and cost-efficient benefit for the security, health and welfare of new born Kiwis and their mothers and families, she said.

More than 120 countries provide paid maternity leave by law and New Zealand remains one of the few OECD countries in which it is not a statutory requirement.

‘National’s parental tax credit is not paid parental leave and will achieve none of the specific aims and objectives of the original proposed bill,’ Kazianis said.

‘This was simply the National Party sniffing the wind and coming up with a soft and vapid compromise,’ she said.

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