Sue Moroney’s bill to extend paid parental leave passed its second reading last night – bravo to all those who supported it! Unfortunately the bill is progressing towards inevitable veto:
Increased paid parental leave a no-go as Government promises to veto it
Getting 26 weeks paid parental leave for Kiwi Mums and Dads has passed its second hurdle in Parliament, but it won’t get across the line because of a Government veto.
Finance Minister Bill English confirmed on Wednesday that he still intends to use the financial veto to block the bill, introduced by Labour MP Sue Moroney.
The financial veto was introduced by Nats in 1998 and has been modified several times since. It has been used several times before – but always to veto “non-contentious amendments to larger bills”. This will be the first time it has ever been used to to shut down a whole bill.
In this case the use of the veto is anti-democratic, overruling the will of Parliament. The cost of the bill, estimates at $150 million a year, is a drop in the government’s budget which could be easily afforded (today’s Budget is reputed to reveal $1.6bn in “new” spending). If this bill is passed by Parliament it should not be vetoed.
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