Lees-Galloway Iain: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLees-Galloway Iain: General Debate[Sitting date: 01 April 2015. Volume:704;Page:2813. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North): I would like to start my contribution today by congratulating the workers at the Cotton On distribution centre who today concluded bargaining with their employer the Australian retail giant Cotton On which tried to take away their tea breaks. What those workers did was stand up against it. The public stood up against it and said: “No way—we don’t like the idea that those workers should lose their tea breaks.” So not only were the rest and meal breaks reinstated in the collective agreement but they also got a significant pay rise and they got a redundancy clause included in their collective agreement.This tells us a few things. First it is good to be a member of a union. It is good to join a union because joining a union makes sure you get far better terms and conditions in your collective agreement than the Government would wish you to have. Second in the age of social media I say to employers who actually want to make use of the changes to the employment laws that this Government brought in: be very careful because the people do not like them. The people of New Zealand do not like the laws that were brought in; they do not like the idea of workers having their rights taken away from them. If you are an employer whose business is vulnerable to public opinion then you will very quickly feel the wrath of the people of New Zealand. Third it is important to know that union membership makes a big difference in public opinion. The Government was completely out of touch with the people of New Zealand when it took away their right in legislation to a tea break.We know that this Government is completely out of touch because of the by-election result up in Northland. It went from a 9000-vote majority to a 4000-vote loss in the space of 6 months. It is the most phenomenal turn-round. And it is because that Government over there does not pay enough attention to the regions. If you look around the country regions like Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay and sadly enough Manawatū-Wanganui Wellington Tasman Nelson Marlborough and West Coast all have fewer jobs today than when this Government came into office. Today after 7 years of National Government there are fewer jobs in my region and in regions like it around the country than when National came into office. My region—Manawatū-Wanganui—and also Taranaki Wellington Tasman Nelson Marlborough West Coast and Otago all have over 50 percent more people unemployed than when this Government came to office 7 years ago. Those regions including sadly my own have unemployment rates of over 6 percent after 7 years of this National Government. Today regions like mine the Chatham Islands Gisborne Taranaki and the West Coast are all receiving less Government funding for roading than when this National Government first took office 7 years ago.This Government takes the regions for granted. It expects regional New Zealand to vote for it but it does not actually do anything to improve the economies in those regions. The sad thing is that there is massive potential and there is massive opportunity in every single one of those regions. I appreciate that this Government has embarked on a project to identify what those opportunities are—although if it just came and asked we would be able to tell it—but what is it actually doing to help us harness those opportunities to make the most of them to get people working to get people off the benefit and to make our regions productive again? Nothing. The most useful thing that the National MPs in my part of the country—Ian McKelvie and Nathan Guy—could do would be to resign. Resign today and let us have a by-election.Hon Simon Bridges: You’ll lose those ones too.IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: I will tell you what: Simon Bridges would find the money for the Capital Connection in a heartbeat—in a heartbeat.Jono Naylor: It would be better to find some passengers for it.IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: Jono Naylor would have somewhere to stand. Jono Naylor could go and stand in the Rangitīkei. He might have a chance in the Rangitīkei and the Government might just fund the Capital Connection if it had a by-election in the Rangitīkei or in Ōtaki. That is how we could get the National Government to pay attention to our region and to regions like ours because it is a sad story of under-investment and missed opportunities by this Government which knows that there is potential in the regions. But it takes the regions for granted and hopefully the message that it takes from Northland is that the two-speed economy has got to come to an end. Pay attention to the regions National.The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.