National says it will extend paid parental leave from 26 weeks to 30 weeks if re-elected, starting in 2027, RNZ reported on 25 July 2026.

Under the proposal, paid parental leave would go up to 27 weeks in 2027, 28 weeks in 2028, and 30 weeks in 2029. The party has also said it would like to reach 40 weeks eventually, but has not set a date for that.

Finance spokesperson Nicola Willis announced the policy. The cost would be $27 million in the first year, $56.6 million in the second, and $119 million in the third. The money would come from the government's existing Budget allowance — the pool of money already set aside for government programmes — rather than new borrowing or a new tax, RNZ reported.

Since 2020, the main caregiver in a family has been entitled to 26 weeks of paid parental leave, plus another 26 weeks of unpaid leave on top. The paid amount has not changed since then. That increase was brought in by the previous Labour government.

National also wants to bring back a policy that would let parents split their paid leave and take some or all of it at the same time. Willis tried to pass this idea as a bill in 2023, but Labour voted it down. The new pledge would try again, this time as a government bill, which has a better chance of passing.

The shared-leave part is the bigger change. Right now, parents effectively take their leave one after the other. National's plan would let both parents be at home together for part of the leave period. There is a separate, shorter leave entitlement for partners, but it cannot be combined with the main parental leave in the way National is proposing.

National has also previously said it would keep paying the government KiwiSaver contribution to people on paid parental leave, so the government's contributions to their retirement savings would not pause while they are on leave.

Napier MP Katie Nimon took ten weeks of parental leave and returned to Parliament after six months. RNZ cited her as an example in the party's announcement, showing the squeeze between the leave available and Parliament's sitting schedule.

The cost is relatively small compared with the overall paid parental leave programme, which costs well over $500 million a year at the current 26-week rate. Because the increase is funded from the existing Budget allowance, it will compete with other government priorities each year rather than being guaranteed as a standalone commitment.

Labour voted down the shared-leave idea in 2023, and the previous government did not advance it. Bringing it back as an election promise gives it a clearer path if National leads the next government, but it would still need to pass through Parliament and a select committee — a group of MPs who examine a bill in detail before it becomes law.

The broader question is whether 26 weeks is still the right baseline. National's proposed path to 30 weeks by 2029, with a long-term aim of 40, would bring New Zealand closer to the most generous schemes in the OECD, the group of mostly wealthy countries New Zealand belongs to. Right now, 26 weeks is above the OECD midpoint but well short of the top countries.

The test will be whether the phased schedule survives when a re-elected government has to make Budget trade-offs. Because the funding comes from the existing allowance, each year's increase goes through the Budget process, and a future minister could delay or adjust it. Willis's decision to spread the increase over three years, rather than doing it all at once, gives the Finance Minister and Treasury room to manage the cost year by year.

The shared-leave part is different — it requires a new law, not just Budget funding. Its fate depends on whether Parliament votes for it, not on Budget decisions alone.