The National Party says it will increase paid parental leave from 26 to 30 weeks by 2029, if it wins the next election. Parents would also be able to take leave at the same time as each other, instead of one after the other. The policy, announced under the "Budget 2026" banner with the theme "Fixing the basics," would start with an increase from 26 to 27 weeks (National Party). From 1 July 2027, the government would also keep paying into people's KiwiSaver accounts while they are on parental leave, even if they have stopped their own contributions (National Party).

The announcement came the week after Stuart Nash resigned as a New Zealand First candidate. Nash had said National MP Katie Nimon was "the laziest" for the amount of leave she took after having a baby. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he could not have predicted Nash's comments (RNZ).

Labour pointed out that National blocked a paid parental leave extension in 2016. Luxon said he only entered Parliament in 2020 and did not know what happened before then. He said the new policy was about looking forward (RNZ).

Labour also raised National's record on other issues: cuts to Best Start payments, less money for school lunches, and restarting pay equity negotiations. The ACT Party separately questioned why National chose this moment to announce the policy (RNZ).

The announcement comes at a tough time for National in the polls. In an RNZ-Reid Research poll, National got 28.7 percent of the party vote. Under New Zealand's MMP system, the number of seats a party gets in Parliament is based on its share of the party vote. At 28.7 percent, National would drop from 48 seats to 36. That puts pressure on National's list MPs — the MPs who get into Parliament through the party list rather than by winning a local electorate seat. National currently has five list MPs: Nicola Willis, Paul Goldsmith, Gerry Brownlee, Melissa Lee, and Nancy Lu (RNZ).

Willis is running as a list-only candidate and said she was not worried about getting back into Parliament. Goldsmith is trying to win the Epsom seat, which is held by ACT's David Seymour, and was not sure he would be back on 28.7 percent party vote. Chris Bishop, the MP for Hutt South, said it would be "highly unlikely" he would keep his seat on current polling (RNZ).

The broader context here is a party announcing a family-friendly policy while its own MPs could lose their jobs. The drop from 48 seats to 36 means roughly a dozen MPs might be out of Parliament after the next election, depending on how local electorate races go. Senior figures like Goldsmith and Bishop are not protected by the party vote alone — Goldsmith has to win Epsom from David Seymour, and Bishop's Hutt South margin may not hold on current numbers.

The leave policy itself would happen in stages, not all at once. The first step moves leave from 26 to 27 weeks, with later increases building toward 30 weeks by 2029. The change allowing both parents to take leave at the same time would mean they could be at home together, rather than one parent taking leave first and the other later. The KiwiSaver change, starting 1 July 2027, would mean the government keeps contributing to a parent's retirement savings while they are on leave, even if they have paused their own payments.

For political reporters, the circumstances around this announcement are at least as important as the policy itself. Nash's resignation and his comments about Nimon's parental leave created the backdrop against which National chose to announce an extension to that same entitlement. Luxon's response to the 2016 vote — that he was not in Parliament then — may not hold up if Labour keeps pushing the point that National opposed extending leave before and supports it now. ACT questioning the timing also adds tension within the coalition, in a week where National would have wanted a clean policy launch.

The polling numbers make all of that sharper. At 28.7 percent, National's list is much tighter. List MPs who got into Parliament when the party vote was higher now depend on winning their local electorate seats to stay. Willis's confidence about returning as a list-only candidate suggests the party may be reading the situation differently from the public polls, or that senior figures are choosing not to show concern publicly. Goldsmith's uncertainty is more honest, and shows the real electoral risk National faces in seats it would normally expect to hold.