Face of the Day

ACT leader David Seymour has hit back at claims made by Finance Minister Nicola Willis that ACT and NZ First were the reason that National was unable to get flexible paid parental leave across the line this government term. [...]

National campaigned on flexible parental leave in 2023; however, Willis said the policy did not make it into the party’s agreement with NZ First and ACT.

“The ministerial responsibility for paid parental leave sits with Brooke van Velden, who’s in the ACT Party. She didn’t prioritise this change in her work programme,” Willis said. [...]

Seymour said [...] “I am disappointed to see comments that Brooke van Velden has not prioritised flexible parental leave. She has not been asked by the National Party to do that, it is not in their coalition documents, they didn’t try and negotiate it into their agreement. [...]

Seymour also took aim at the timing of the announcement of the new policy, which he said felt a “little political”.

“They have opposed this policy for a long time, and then the Stuart Nash-Katy [sic] Nimon thing comes out a few days later,” he said. [...]

Willis said the cost of the proposal would be $27 million next year, rising to $124 million a year once fully implemented.

Stuff