Jenna Lynch on paid parental leave

Jenna Lynch writes at Newshub:

Surely people should be able to choose how they’d like to kick off their lives as parents.

Aside from the fact that it is a special time in a parent’s life to spend together, there are a number of challenging scenarios that come up in parenthood that this policy could help ease.

One example cited by the Opposition is mothers who have caesareans and cannot drive for six weeks. Surely having a partner around to help out makes sense.

Another is parents of premature babies who have other children to care for as well. Wouldn’t it be helpful to have the other parent around to share the burden?

There are many many reasons why a couple may not want the father to head back to work after just a fortnight.

Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says no because the policy could (at its most extreme) result in parents halving the leave and taking it together, meaning babies would have less time with parents, which is the opposite of what the extension to leave seeks to do.

With all due respect, Minister, aren’t parents the best people to make this call?

Yep.

In fact, a mother in your own Government, Willow Jean Prime, has a three-month-old and says having her husband around for the first few weeks would have been greatly helpful. Is she not in the best position to decide what’s best for her family?

If we trust parents to raise our next generation, surely we can trust them to make the best decision when it comes to using their parental leave in a way that suits every family’s unique situation.

National’s policy is common sense and progressive – two things the new Government is looking to define itself as.

Adopting National’s policy adds nothing to the cost of the overall package.

Plus it presents an opportunity for the new Government to look reasonable and pragmatic.

It’s a no-brainer.

But one they turned down, purely because it wasn’t their idea first. Sad.