National leader Bill English has doubled down on his calls for the Government to adopt his party's shared parental leave proposal - and Labour looks to have given in.
Appearing on The AM Show on Tuesday, Mr English said Labour needs to 'listen to the public' over the issue.
- National raises shared Paid Parental Leave again
- Opinion: Shared Paid Parental Leave a no brainer
- Jacinda Ardern 'likes' National's shared parental leave policy
"I think it's just because of the common sense of the proposition, really," he says.
"The broader public interest in it would certainly get attention of the Government."
During the campaign, National called for shared parental leave and now National Party Workplace Relations spokesperson Amy Adams is challenging the Government to adopt the policy itself.
Ms Adams will introduce a Private Member's Bill that would amend Paid Parental Leave (PPL) legislation currently before the House.
Mr English urges the Government to "fast-track" Ms Adams' legislation. He says part of being in Government is "listening to the public", and this is a good opportunity for Labour to do so.
"Sometimes in politics when you hear yourself opposing something after a while you think 'Oh, that doesn't sound so good'," he says.
Last week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Newshub she liked National's proposed amendment, but there would be issues to work through, so it couldn't be put through under urgency along with the rest of the Bill.
"There is a really good chance that we're going to progress this, but I've just got to do my job and do it properly," Ms Ardern said.
"If we just put it through [under] urgency and suddenly a business says to me, 'Well, actually, now you're making me cover for two employees and that's going to be tough'."
And Mr English defended his reversal after previously opposing paid parental leave.
"We said we would do it when we could afford it and we campaigned on extending it to 22 weeks," he says.
"It did come up when the Government had deficits. Now the Government's got surpluses. This would be a wiser use of the surplus than some of the things they're proposing."
Newshub.
