Applications already in for paid parental leave, says Harre

Paid parental leave starts today and Alliance leader Laila Harre, who piloted the legislation through Parliament, says thousands of applications have already been filed.

"From today 20,000 families a year will benefit from 12 weeks' paid parental leave of up to $325 (a week)," she said.

"The Employment Relations Service phone line has had 3700 inquiries on paid parental leave since March.

"The Inland Revenue Department has had 2000 applications, the majority of which will be accepted and payments will be paid into bank accounts on Wednesday."

She chose today to launch her party's work and family policy, saying paid parental leave was just a start.

"We have a long way to go when it comes to delivering the goods to working families," Ms Harre said.

The Alliance wanted to extend paid parental leave to 14 weeks and would push for free, high-quality pre-school education for all children.

"We will start by providing 15 hours per week for three- and four-year-olds," she said.

"New community or government child care centres will be encouraged on existing school sites, in order to assist the integration between early childhood education and schooling."

She said the Alliance wanted to establish a commission to investigate working hours, because a reduction was an important but complex issue.

"Its brief will be to recommend to government a suitable length for the standard working week of not more than 40 hours, whether there should be any exception above or below this standard, and how the standard should be implemented and enforced," she said.

- NZPA