Bennett David: Minimum Wage (Starting-out Wage) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Bennett David: Minimum Wage (Starting-out Wage) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 21 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8863. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 I just want to pay tribute to our fine young Minister of Labour who has done a very good job in putting forward this Minimum Wage (Starting-out Wage) Amendment Bill. Today is an important day for the Labour Party. The Labor Party in Australia is coming back to its roots. It is understanding the problems of having leadership that does not apply. The Labour Party of New Zealand has not gone through what the Labor Party of Australia is going through today: the blood-letting the letting out of that pain and facing the reality of the world. That member who just got up and spoke Darien Fenton did a personal attack on the Minister as her way of attacking this bill and that is shameful. That is the kind of approach that the Labor Party in Australia has been playing and look what is happening to it today. It is falling apart in front of your eyes. In 2 hours’ time there will be a vote on the Labor Party and the leadership in Australia— 
Iain Lees-Galloway 
: What a shambles! 
DAVID BENNETT 
: It is a shambles. That is right. It is a shambles and members opposite are following in their footsteps. It is going to happen to you soon—I am sorry Mr Assistant Speaker. It will happen— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch) 
: Order! [ 
Interruption 
] I am on my feet. I certainly do not want you to be bringing me into the debate and that is for all speakers this afternoon. Keep the word “you” out of it. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: That speaker spoke about being worried about the legacy under this new young Minister. That is what she said and I think that was shameful. 
We need to move on to what the Labour members actually propose when they debate bills. The Labour Party says that workers should get more money the more time that they are in work. The Labour Party is based on the union movement and the whole part of that union movement is that the longer you are in work the more pay and conditions you get. That is what the Labour Party always says. The Labour Party is based upon a union movement that believes that there is a hierarchy of employment and payment does it not? That is what it stands for and yet in this bill it will not stand for this. It will not stand for giving people a chance when it is its mantra—that is what it is. The Labour Party is about hierarchy of payment it is about hierarchy of conditions and when it comes to giving a young person a chance it will not have a part of it. 
In reality our young people should be in education. There will be no future for our young people if they do not get that education going forward. But some of our people make a choice at that time of their life that they want to go straight into the workforce and the Labour Party members are denying them that choice and the reason they are denying them that choice— 
Hon Member 
: They hate the young. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: They do not hate the young. They do not hate the young; they want to control the young. They want to control people and they want to play workers off against each other. They want to play older workers against younger workers and say that this is unfair and that the Labour Party looks after all their interests when that is not true. 
The people out there need to understand. They need to not believe that party because in the end that party does not stand for equality of wages between all workers; that party is all about having a hierarchy of wages and entitlements. It is a bit rich for those members to come into this House today and say to young people who want to get on the start of employment that they should not have that chance. It is very disappointing and really is a reflection of how far the Labour Party has got to go in New Zealand like it has in Australia on this dark day for the Labor Party in Australia. Thank you.