ACT pushes back at National’s claim paid parental leave was ‘not prioritised’ by minister

Sunday, 26 July 2026

The ACT leader was 'disappointed' in comments made by Nicola Willis that claimed Brooke van Velden was not prioritising paid parental leave reform.

David Seymour says he is “disappointed” in comments made by Nicola Willis that Brooken van Velden did not prioritise paid parental leave reform.

National will overhaul paid parental leave if re-elected, with Willis saying they wanted to do it this term.

Seymour said National’s announcement felt a “little political” following the resignation of Stuart Nash as a NZ First candidate last week.

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.

On Sunday, Willis announced that if re-elected, National will overhaul New Zealand’s paid parental leave (PPL) scheme, expanding entitlement to 30 weeks by 2029 and grant parents the flexibility to share paid time off.

National’s policy would incrementally raise the current 26-week PPL entitlement – starting with an increase to 27 weeks in its first Budget – with a longer-term ambition to extend paid leave to 40 weeks, or roughly nine months.

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.

She added: “I think it is a shame that it wasn't prioritised … and we are really keen as a National Party to see this done.”

ACT and National have traded barbs at each other over paid parental leave.

Responding to Willis on Sunday afternoon, Seymour said he was 'disappointed' in her comments as he believes people want to see the coalition “pointing to what it has achieved rather than pointing fingers at each other”.

“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.

“I would just urge all the parties in the coalition [that] we have got to get re-elected together guys, we have got to point to all the things that we have done for people, not each other,” he said.

The National Party says it will overhaul New Zealand’s paid parental leave (PPL) scheme if re-elected, expanding entitlement to 30 weeks by 2029 and grant parents the flexibility to share paid time off.

In a statement, van Velden backed Seymour’s comments, telling Stuff on Sunday that the coalition “should focus” on what they have achieved together, adding that the Government was removing the parental leave penalty that exists in the current Holidays Act.

“This Government agreed that parents who return from parental leave will be able to take annual leave at full value upon returning to work. I expect to see this pass this term in the Employment Leave Bill currently before Parliament,” she said.

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 Nimon thing comes out a few days later,” he said.

Nash resigned as a NZ First candidate on Wednesday after making sexist comments about National MP Katie Nimon’s time off with her baby.

The former Labour MP had described Nimon as “the laziest MP around” after she took maternity leave last year.

NZ First leader Winston Peters was also critical of the timing, saying on X “It’s good to see the National Party all of a sudden change their mind on extending paid parental leave after vetoing extending it and voting against it in 2016 and 2017.”

Asked about the timing of the policy, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon dismissed any suggestion that it was capitalising on the Nash controversy, saying the party had a series of family policies which it was releasing over time.

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

The increase to 30 weeks was part of a longer-term plan to raise paid parental leave to 40 weeks, with the phased roll-out allowing the Government to stay on track to meet its surplus, Willis said.