successive life working in New Zealand. This bill is bad. There is
a high bar. The
Government must demonstrate why it should proceed.
a high bar. The Government must demonstrate why it should proceed. I
call Clayton Mitchell. Thank you, Mr
Speaker I just want to start
my contribution on behalf of New
Zealand First thanking the member
across from having a very
calm approach to this project,
and Amy for her passion, and of course,
Willie Jackson for his
passion, but also
Willie Jackson for his passion, but Zealand
Willie Jackson for his passion, but also for the work that has
been done behind the scenes to get
this bill in and through the House in
100 days
commendable. I think it's the first proof
of how MMP can work very, very well for
this country. Because when we first
sat down and looked at some of
the ideas that our Coalition partners
had and discussed those, we realised
that we need to sit
down and work through some of those differences.
And it is no surprise
to everybody there that New Zealand First
did ensure that we remain and kept the
question that the Hon Steven Joyce raises, as to why
question that the Hon Steven Joyce raises, as to why, then, if we think
that
raises, as to why, then, if we think
work, in some cases, didn't we leave them there in their entirety, and he
mentioned
them there in their entirety, and he
measure the National Government introduced. You didn't
give any clarify if they were going to FTE,
general. Maybe this is something this new Coalition Government
can look at in the future
We certainly ask the submitters as it goes
through select committee to find out
practicable and realistic it is.
That is something that could
be raised.
raised. I want to also discuss and bring up
the point that Amy Adams makes about
this compulsory
the point that Amy Adams makes about
month while a new employee gets their feet on the ground,
gets their legs under the table, and
understands what's happening.
Well, I say the same thing to the
National Party when they brought in
compulsory
National Party when they brought in
saver. You had a month trial and you could decide for yourself whether it
was good for you or not good for
you. If it was good, they
stayed on and they contributed
into the KiwiSaver programme or they opted
out. My point is, it gives people
choices. They won't
be dissen franchised from being part of a
union. They will get natural higher
rates through those unions.
I, myself, in those early years
of working when I was working
in the apple packhouse and working in other
areas I joined the union for a
short period of time and
then thought,
I negotiated my own individual employee agreements. But I
realised, I have the strength of character to
go and negotiate that. But to have
that option there for
workers to understand what the
unions are understand
understand what the unions are offering and what I can go and
get for myself is giving them the
flexibility, and the job security
which is very
important.
Sorry, raising wages in this country is something that I am proud of as a
New Zealand First MP that
we negotiated hard for in
this Coalition
Coalition Agreement to make sure that we worked towards a living wage
economy. When I
that we worked towards a living wage economy. When I spoke to the
Deloittes Business New Zealand
system nar and they did
Deloittes Business New Zealand
and they did a survey after the fact we announce announced a living New
Zealand wage it was very
well system
Zealand wage it was very well received. In fact,
Zealand wage it was very well
who did that survey also agreed that we need to work into
a living wage. This Coalition Agreement is quickly
as pract ably as possible,
working towards
as pract ably as possible, working This
as pract ably as possible, working towards that. We need to raise the
bar. I tell you why. Raising the
living wage, which is not part
of this bill, Madam Chair, will
stop the brain drain of the
Kiwis going to Australia. Raising the wages,
which this bill does actually do
by these agreements
these agreements that we have inside... It's a long bow. It is a
long bow. But it also
inside... It's a long bow. It is a long bow. But it also will create
higher productivity. When
we look around the world, New
Zealand's productivity is one of the lowest
in the world of
First World countries. I want to acknowledge the
fact that when the Hon Steven Joyce
mentions the fact that we've got
the
again, I get back to the standard. The previous government
encapsulated that data by saying if you
just work one hour per week you
were deemed to be employee. Yet when I test
that theory in the real
world, employment to
theory in the real world, employment be
theory in the real world, employment to anybody who understands it
means that you can sufficiently look after
yourself and you don't need to
be beheld to the Government or to
the State to top you up with a
supplement or a boost.
So we've actually got a false
data collection collection when we
say we're the
collection collection when we say
the world. In actual fact because we capture anybody who has a job for an
hour or more, because
that's not real employment. Guess what,
taxpayers are paying for
that
country at the moment. Even people who are employed that
need extra help and support. Moving
ourselves up by using all mechanisms that we
possibly can, including the
unions and what they add, will help
New Zealand and
Zealand and New Zealanders stands on their
Zealand and New Zealanders stands on and
their own two feet. It will give more PAYG and
GST to the Government to get back to
core business. It will make more
cash available because more money
in more people's pockets to businesses
will be richer, there'll be more
profitability. So this doom and
gloom of how bad this bill
is, we're saying, goes against
what we're actually hearing from businesses. In
actual fact, I have some remarks,
Hospitality New Zealand commend the
fact that New Zealand First
has Hospitality
fact that New Zealand First has negotiated the remaining of the
important. It's huge for people in business.
important. It's huge for people in
Powell, founder of the SMB Network, which has almost 11,000
members. He says,
which has almost 11,000 members. He
Government has chosen to retain the
pragmatic solution in a tough employment
pragmatic solution in a tough pragmatic
pragmatic solution in a tough
the Minister, Willie Jackson, said he also employed people and it was
commendable to hear he had used
have with my businesses, because the vast majority of businesses do use
them in the manner that
they are designed to be there for. It
does give a little bit
of certainty. We go back to a fair day's pay
for a fair day's work. We've got to get
the right balance between employer
and employee. This bill takes that
step to ensure that that
balance is there. That the needs of the
employer, looking for skilled,
dedicated and flexible staff, is at
the absolute forefront of
anybody employing anybody. And the
employee's needs, of having
job stability, safe working
conditions and good remuneration packages,
is part of that balance.
So, Madam Chair, New Zealand First
is proud to be supporting this. The
meal breaks that we are
winding back the clock on, when I first came
into the House this is one of the
first pieces of legislation
that came pieces
pieces of legislation that came through. To me, the irony of
that was we were putting
through the health and safety plan, which
was all about ensuring that workers
in their workplaces were going to be
kept safe and sound, and yet part
of that
that safety was ensuring...
jobs, that those workers could actually stop, rest, prepare
themselves, have a meal break and
then continue on with their
work. There are exemptions in this bill
which will actually allow
certain businesses to have that
flexibility for
businesses to have that flexibility businesses
businesses to have that flexibility for their workers. So, if there are
other businesses not
included, then we'd like to hear from them if they
think they should have
that flexibility. But we've
got to think of the safety of our workers. This
ensures safety first, making
sure that when people do go to work that
they do come home
safely at the end of the day. And
I understand what Amy Adams has spoken about, and
agree with her to a degree, that
that flexibility, in some cases, is
very, very pragmatic. However,
it's a little bit too
prescriptive, and we can find workers
being bullied into situations and forced out of
their meal breaks, when we
is not the intention of what we were trying to achieve.
Mr Speaker, I would like to just
conclude by commending this bill
through the House to select
committee, where we will be
paying through
committee, where we will be paying very, very close attention to what
the submissions are. If we can
improve this bill in any
way, we certainly have our eyes
and ears wide open to that. But we would
just to say that those
wide open to that. But we would just
are very, very pragmatic. And despite the fact that there are
a very, very small number of
businesses who abuse
this regulation, we will
be collecting data, because, I have to say, we
are not trying to hit with a hammer
all businesses but, unfortunately, the
data had not been collected for
the last nine years and so we've got
a bit of work to do to find out
focused, is it employer focused, and which employees are getting
caught up with these bad business
practices. We are certainly very,
very
practices. We are certainly very,
lifeblood of our country, and so are our workers. That is the fair pay,
fair work balance. We
commend the bill to the House. I
call Sarah Dowie. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
I start with raising a comment that
the previous speaker made at the
start of his speech,
commending the Coalition Government for
bringing there bill together within its
brought it together in haste. They've brought it together