Council (Waimea Water Augmentation
That
That Bill
That Bill is set down for first
The
The House comes to Oral Questions. Question No.
My question is to the Prime
Yes.
Yes. When
Yes. When she was asked whether proposed employment law
changes would allow a union representative
to enter the property of a business
without the
without the business's permission, does she stand by her
if the person in question they are visiting is a member
I am glad the member's asked that question again. It gives me a
chance to clarify the example
that he gave... Order! The example that he
gave related to farmhouses. And I
know that section 19 of the Act and
the proposal that is included in
this bill specifically
precludes going into a dwelling, which means
that the example that
the member used would not have
been accurate. So, thank you for the opportunity to
clarify. Can she confirm
that the Government's changes actually give
the power to union representatives
to enter the premises of a business
without their permission, even
if there are no union
without their permission, even if
so that unions can recruit new members or distribute
the union
want to point out the legislation before Parliament
before Parliament at present essentially brings back
employment legislation that existed right
up until 2015 in some
cases. Hear, hear! I have to say
unless the member is now saying that there was a dire
economic situation for the six years his government was
last in as a consequence of
that legislation, then that's
for him to
We personally do not believe that this is the case with these changes.
To come back to the question
that the member raised, for the purposes
of perhaps signing up directly a
union member, which is quite a
specific circumstance, then that
would be the case, but, again, I
point out section 21 of the Act
means that the union official has
to comply with all reasonable health
and safety security
procedures and must access the workplace in
a reasonable way having regard to
normal business operations in
the workplace. There are plenty of
the Minister of work mace relations in relation to her answers in the
House last week,
in relation to her answers in the
Party really wanted to debate the detail of the bill, they would be
asking me questions, because it is
my responsibility to understand the
detail of this legislation.
They should be taking to me,
not trying to catch the PM off
should be taking to me, not trying
so, does she agree with her Minister that she was caught
so, does she agree with her Minister
know the point that the Minister was making was that if
know the point that the Minister was
this was such a significant issue for the economy, why has the
spokesperson not asked the Minister
directly about
Does she think it's her responsibility to know the detail
of a policy that business says is
their number 1 concern
with her
Opposition Leader's responsibility to know that a union official can't
That's actually not true.
To be really clear, can the PM confirm that under the
Government's proposed employment law
changes a union representative will be able
to enter the premises of a
business without permission from that
to comply with the rules and obligations of
obligations of that workplace, including the health and
safety obligations. So, if that means
reporting in at the
gate, because there are health
and safety obligations, then they
must comply with that
obligations, then they must comply
Why will union representatives not be required to gain consent from an
employer before entering the
premises of their workplace
when even a police officer has to ask a
judge for
even a police officer has to ask a
out in my last answer, if there are health and
health and safety obligations that require them to do so, then they
would, and, again, I come back
to this issue, that these are changes
that existed, in many cases, in
this omnibus bill right
up until 2015. These
omnibus bill right up until 2015.
allow employees to have a voice, to be well represented in the
workplace, and I'm
surprised that the member considers that this is
going to have such a dire impact
on the economy.
going to have such a dire impact on the economy. Supplementary question.
Using the member's
previous question, does a policeman in
hot pursuit of a highly suspected
murderer inside an
office situation have to spend all the time to go
and ask a judge for a warrant to pick
I had called order before, but I... I think we will just leave it there.
Simon Bridges. Can the
Minister confirm that we are giving unions
the powers
the powers that we give police officers when they are in
hot
Mr Speaker, the point that the Deputy PM was making was that
the
alarmist and dramatic.
Can she confirm that under the Government's proposed
Government's proposed employment law changes business owners will now
have to pay workers for time spent
in the same way they have to under the legislation also allow them
to have rest and meal breaks.
that under the Government's proposed employment law
employment law changes, businesses will now be responsible
for funding union activities while workers are
I would encourage the member to have a long conversation with the
likes of Air NZ where through
their framework of
framework of working collectively with their employees they have
improved the productivity, the
health and safety, they have a
high performance workplace. Unlike
the member, I don't
believe that excluding employees is the way
to become a productive company and
a
Will the law changes make private businesses responsible for
undertaking and funding union
membership
undertaking and funding union
this is legislation that exists under the last Government, and
at that point, unless
they are starting to argue that under the first six
years of their reign
the economy tanked, they might want to change
to a new line
of questioning because we, on this side of
the House, believe it is possible
to enpower employees to have a work in the
work police station and it won't
workplace and it won't endanger business or the economy. N'tn't.
Question No. 2.
My
My question is to the Minister of
conjunction with other data, highlights the risk that growth over
the coming fiscal year may be weaker
than forecast in the
business confidence falling and continued softness in the housing