notice of it and quickly start recapture of methyl bromide
fumigations, thank you, Mr Speaker.
fumigations, thank you, Mr Speaker. I take a short call for Greens on
this debate. Mr Speaker, the Greens
believe in a fair New Zealand, a
place where we care for people,
where we care for the planet. And
where we are responsible and prudent
stewards of the resources that we
have.
stewards of the resources that we where
stewards of the resources that we have. And I was disturbed to hear in
the PM's speech today a real lack of
vision and solutions for some of the
pressing problems of our time. I was
looking to hear how the PM and his
Government, how they think we should
be working to ensure that all our
children in this country that all
our families are thriving. I didn't
hear a solution from the Government
for the 40,000 people in New Zealand
who are living in their cars, sheds
and garages. I didn't hear that,
sir. And that lack of vision for me
is increasingly worrying. See, I
didn't hear from the Government the
solution for increasing wages, so
that people could actually live on
what they're earning. And there are
several hundred thousand people in
this
several hundred thousand people in several
several hundred thousand people in this country who are just getting by
on the incomes that they can squeeze
out of their employers. What I did
understand is that there will be an
increase in the minimum wage, sir,
up to
increase in the minimum wage, sir,
120,000 people who are currently on the minimum wage will be
120,000 people who are currently on
an hourly increase of 25 cents, but, sir, you just simply can't support a
family on this. And increasingly,
it's working families that are
ending up in those homeless
situations and reliant on foodbanks
as well. Sir, this Government has
fostered a
as well. Sir, this Government has
that, I think is something that we should all be concerned about. We
have created the system where
should all be concerned about. We
narrative, Helen Kelly used to call it,
narrative, Helen Kelly used to call that,
narrative, Helen Kelly used to call
was the Ben factor and the employee was the recipient of that
was the Ben factor and the employee
And what that has done, sir, is that it's increased the vulnerability of
workers to the point where they
cannot ask or demand or negotiate
decent working wages
cannot ask or demand or negotiate
working conditions in wages, sir. working
working conditions in wages, sir. And some of the most vulnerable
workers in this country, sir, are
those who are on temporary working
workers in this country, sir, are
temporary visa contracts. They are at additional risk of exploitation
by unscrupulous employers and that
is happening more and more. There's
research from several sources that
suggests that about
research from several sources that
people on temporary working visas are actually being exploited, and
it's just not good enough.
are actually being exploited, and it's just not good enough. The
solution to this is the
redistribution of wealth. I know it
sounds terribly radical, but
actually what that means is fair
wages that are negotiated by workers
with the unions. We support a fair
and transparent immigration system.
What we've seen from this Government
is a
What we've seen from this Government
we have the situation where this Government will pass on citizenship
to a
Government will pass on citizenship
billionaire, and in just about the same breath will actually move to
deport nine students who have paid
thousands and thousands of dollars
to come to this country to study,
and in this report it does say they
want to increase access, or increase
the economy from international
students, and that's fine, but
actually we need to be treating them
fairly, and so the Government should
be looking at the deportation orders
and exercising the same discretion
that they use