Tova on Nanny State Labour

Tova O’Brien writes:

Labour telling parents breast is best – and what’s best in general for their newborns – is a risky move to cover up what is essentially a political play. 

It breathes new life into the old ‘nanny state’ epithet Labour’s fought hard to shake and this time it’s more literal – and sensitive – than light bulbs and shower heads ever were. 

Despite parliament-wide support, Labour voted against National’s proposed changes to paid parental leave this week. It would have given parents and carers the flexibility to split the paid 26 weeks, allowing them to take leave at the same time or overlap. As it stands, they can’t take the leave together.

Yep, Labour voted to not let parents work out how to manage their own paid parental leave. Their view is parents can’t be trusted to work out what is best for them.

Former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern came back to work six weeks after having her daughter Neve. It would have been unconscionable for her cabinet colleagues – Hipkins and Sepuloni – to tell her she needed to stay at home longer to breastfeed.

Yet that is the message they are sending every other parent in NZ.