The National Party has pledged to extend paid parental leave from 26 weeks to 30 weeks if re-elected, rolling the increase out in annual increments starting in 2027, RNZ reported on 25 July 2026.

Under the proposal, paid parental leave would rise to 27 weeks in 2027, 28 weeks in 2028, and 30 weeks in 2029. The party has also flagged a long-term intention to push the entitlement to 40 weeks, though no timeline has been set for that target.

Finance spokesperson Nicola Willis announced the policy. The phased extension would cost $27 million in 2027/28, $56.6 million in 2028/29, and $119 million in 2029/30, funded from existing Budget operating allowances rather than new spending lines, RNZ reported.

Since 2020, primary carers in New Zealand have been entitled to 26 weeks of paid parental leave, with an additional 26 weeks of unpaid leave available on top. The current paid entitlement has not changed since that increase, which was phased in under the previous Labour government.

National also proposed reviving a policy that would allow parents to split their paid parental leave entitlement and take some or all of it simultaneously. Willis put forward a member's bill to that effect in 2023, but it was voted down by Labour at first reading. The new pledge would revisit the same concept, potentially through government legislation rather than a member's bill.

The shared-leave component is the more structurally significant element of the package. Allowing simultaneous leave would let both parents be at home together for part of the entitlement period, a departure from the current model where leave is effectively sequential between primary and secondary carers. The existing scheme provides a separate, shorter paternity and partner leave entitlement, but the two cannot be combined or overlapped in the way National is proposing.

National has also previously announced a policy to continue paying the government KiwiSaver contribution to people on paid parental leave, meaning the state contribution would not pause during the leave period. That sits alongside the parental leave extension as part of the party's broader families policy pitch.

Napier MP Katie Nimon, who took ten weeks of parental leave and returned to Parliament after six months, was cited by RNZ as an example within the party's announcement. Her experience underscores the practical constraints sitting MPs face under the current entitlement settings, particularly the tension between available leave and parliamentary sitting schedules.

The cost profile of the phased extension is modest in the context of the social development portfolio. The $119 million annual cost by 2029/30 is a fraction of the total paid parental leave programme, which costs well over $500 million a year at the current 26-week entitlement. Funding the increase from operating allowances, rather than as a separate new initiative, means it will compete with other priorities within the Budget cycle rather than sitting outside the baseline.

The 2023 member's bill's defeat at first reading is relevant context for the shared-leave proposal. Labour opposed it then, and the policy was not advanced during the term of the previous government. Reviving it now as part of an election platform gives it a clearer legislative pathway if National leads the next government, but it would still need to pass through the House and select committee process.

The broader question for the paid parental leave regime is whether 26 weeks remains the right baseline. National's proposed trajectory, 30 weeks by 2029 with a stated long-term aim of 40, would bring New Zealand closer to the OECD upper quartile if fully realised. At present, the 26-week paid entitlement sits above the OECD median but well short of countries with the most generous schemes.

Whether the phased schedule survives contact with a re-elected government's fiscal priorities is the test the policy will face. The operating-allowance funding mechanism means each year's increase is subject to the Budget process, and a future minister could defer or adjust the timeline without breaching a standalone commitment. Willis's decision to phase the increase over three years rather than implement it in a single step gives the Treasury and the Minister of Finance discretion to manage the fiscal impact year by year.

The shared-leave component, by contrast, is a legislative change rather than a spending one, and would require a bill to amend the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act. Its fate would depend on parliamentary support, not just on Budget decisions.