Robertson Grant: Minimum Wage and Remuneration Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Robertson Grant: Minimum Wage and Remuneration Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:654;Page:3909] 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) 
: 
 I will address Part 2 and in particular the amendments on Supplementary Order Paper 4 to insert new clauses 7A 7B and 7C. But before I do so I want to respond to Mr Henare. He raised the subject of dignity and to me this bill is very much about dignity. I ask Mr Henare what kind of dignity he thinks it is for somebody to go out in the pouring rain and deliver pamphlets or Mr Hipkins’ pizza. What kind of dignity is it for people to have no minimum wage no guarantee about the amount of money they will earn? This bill is about dignity. It is about providing dignity to workers who at the moment have little protection regarding their wages. For Mr Henare to stand up and repeat ad nauseam his absolute rubbish on this bill offends the workers we are trying to protect here. They are the most vulnerable workers in society; they are the ones we are trying to protect in this bill. It is about dignity; it is about dignity of those workers. 
New clause 7A is a chance for National to live up to the rhetoric that we have heard tonight and to show whether its members truly believe in regularly increasing the minimum wage. We have heard a lot of talk tonight about the fact there was a 50c increase recently and that was welcome; that was excellent. But this bill and new clause 7A give them the opportunity to live up to their own hype. New clause 7 set out on Supplementary Order Paper 4 allows them to increase the minimum wage to $13 per hour of paid work from 1 July 2009 $14 per hour from 1 July 2010 and $15 per hour from 1 July 2011. New clause 7A inserts an annual review of minimum wages. Here is National’s chance to do what Labour did in 9 years in office: increase the minimum wage every year. 
Michael Woodhouse 
: The law is to that effect. 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: I say to Mr Woodhouse that we do need to pass a law to do it because I have no confidence that the members on that side of the House will do that—no confidence whatsoever. I was working in Parliament when Don Brash was the leader of the National Party. He got up and said that the minimum wage drives down employment opportunities so we cannot and should not have a minimum wage. That is the view of many members on that side of the House. 
Mr Peachey got up and started obsessing about the word “prescription”. He will need a prescription if he takes another call on that matter. Mr Peachey has to know that if he keeps talking about prescriptions all that means is that he does not believe in a minimum wage. Of course we have to be able to prescribe it. That is the very point of the minimum wage and the reason why we do it. Mr Peachey gets up and says the bill is all about prescription; well that is because that is how we will make sure there is a minimum wage. That is how we will get dignity for workers right across New Zealand. 
New clause 7A allows for an annual review of minimum wages. New clause 7B allows for a comprehensive review of the minimum rate of remuneration. National has the opportunity to support those clauses and to say: “We believe in minimum wages. We will sign up to an annual review and a 3-yearly review of the minimum rate of remuneration.” That is National’s chance; otherwise what we are seeing tonight are crocodile tears. 
National’s speakers have not got up tonight and said that they believe in the minimum wage. They have got up tonight and told us—all through this debate—why the minimum wage is wrong. We know that is National’s true agenda. National members should be supporting this bill if as Mr Henare says they believe in the dignity of workers.