Sio WilliamSu'a WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Māngere): In the past 10 years there have been four other similar bills that have come before this House. Each time those bills have come before this House there has been a conscience vote by all parties and each time those bills have lost. I am surprised to hear that on this particular occasion—I am hearing Minister Woodhouse say that he is forcing all of his members the Government members to vote in accordance with where the Government wants this bill to go.I want to say that in the last 8 years with this Government in power there has been a deliberate and systematic effort by this Government to make legislative change that undermines workers' rights that undermines the ability of workers to organise well and that undermines the ability of workers to bargain in good faith. This bill is an additional effort by this Government to undermine the rights of workers to have a day of rest. It undermines the rights of workers to be able to spend time with their families particularly those workers who see Easter Sunday as a religious holiday and a culturally appropriate holiday as well.There is a petition that is circulating in South Auckland at the moment telling Mr Key that he needs to give freedom to his members to be able to vote with their conscience on this particular bill. I say that because having looked at the track record of the National Government members I note that there are two Pacific members in the Government—specifically the Hon Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga and Alfred Ngaro—who have in the past when similar bills have come forward voted against it. I daresay that now based on what the Minister has said he is going to force them to vote in support of this bill. That petition which will be tabled next week is about calling on the Prime Minister and his Government to allow those members of Parliament in the Government who would not support the Government's agenda if given their freedom to vote in good conscience on this to do so. I am hopeful that the two Pacific members of the Government will front up and share with this Committee and with the public whether they intend to follow their conscience in not supporting this particular bill.Phil Twyford: What are the odds on that?Su'a WILLIAM SIO: Well I do not know. Listening to the Minister I think he is basically forcing them and I hope they have the courage to come to the Committee—The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): Order! The member cannot refer to someone as lacking courage. I will just remind the member that 3 minutes of the 5-minute speech have gone and we have not heard anything on Part 1 yet. I will ask the member to come back to Part 1 and concentrate on the substance of Part 1.Su'a WILLIAM SIO: Thank you. Part 1—in Part 1 clauses 10 12 13 and 14 are really the crux of this bill. That is the part where this Government is passing the buck on to local government. I think that what we have seen is instead of this Government being bold and doing what it has wanted to do for quite some time—and that is pass legislation for all councils—what it is doing is it is passing the buck to local government and saying: Here's the framework. Councils you decide whether to approve a by-law or whether to approve a policy in terms of opening up your shops on Easter Sunday." I understand that Local Government New Zealand says that the premise of the bill is OK but it does not support the way this Government is passing the buck in terms of asking councils to pay for all the costs.If you look at clause 7 as amended by Supplementary Order Paper 179 it says that the "special consultative procedure has the same meaning as in section 5(1) of the Local Government Act 2002." That is a procedure that is enacted when the local government has to approve a by-law when it comes to opening up Sunday trading. That is a costly exercise. It is a costly exercise that will go contrary to what many of the people standing for local government are saying and particularly those mayors who are saying to their residents that their policy is going to be a constant rating increase or a reduced rating increase. How can there be certainty amongst the councils if the Government passes the buck of implementing this bill?It is not just a consultation process. It is also about having to hire legal services for the development of the policy and the development of the by-law. Furthermore this bill seems to suggest that it is then left up to councils to enforce the legislation itself. That just means more costs.The overall view is that—and this is the reason why Local Government New Zealand is not on board with it—this Government treats councils badly and continues to pass on the costs for them to carry. The reality is—where do local governments get their money from? It comes from ratepayers. So every ratepayer who is listening to this—yes you might feel that you would like to go down to Sunday shopping on Easter Sunday but the reality is that you your neighbours and your whole community are going to have to bear the cost of implementation of this particular piece of legislation.I want to come to the fact that by opening up trading hours on Sunday—a day which is traditionally a day of rest particularly for communities of faith and communities of culture. Sunday is a day of rest but if this Government is so intent on opening up trading hours on Sunday it means—the Minister says that the worker has a choice. The reality is that if the shop or the business is open on Sunday and it becomes a regular trading day for them any person who refuses to work on that particular day is going to be undermined by that employer and is going to be undermined by their peers. Others are going to wonder why they should be able to take the day off on Sunday and not be penalised.The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): Order! Trading on Easter Sunday is in Part 2 and we are on Part 1. [Interruption] Sorry? I ask the member to concentrate on Part 1 and that is what we are actually on.Iain Lees-Galloway: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. Apologies for doing this but I have found this bill at times difficult to follow as well in terms of what is in what part. Part 2 of this bill is clauses 20 and 21. Part 1 of this bill does add new Parts 1 and 2 to the principal Act and so it can be quite difficult to follow. But Part 1 is the bulk of the bill—in fact basically everything that the bill traverses is in Part 1. Part 2 of this bill is "Transitional savings and related provisions"—clauses 20 and 21.The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): Thank you for that. I am going to seek some advice. I hear what you say—the bulk of it is in Part 1—and I am just going to seek some advice. The member is correct and so new Part 2—"Trading on Easter Sunday"—as mentioned on page 5 of the bill is incorporated in Part 1 which the member has mentioned. I am calling Su'a William Sio—my apologies.Su'a WILLIAM SIO: Your apology accepted Mr Chair. I do want to draw your attention to Part 1 clause 13 inserting new section 4B which is what I was making my references to earlier. That particular part makes reference to Easter Sunday being opened up as a trading day when that particular day has normally been a holiday.The other thing that I suspect many workers would be angry about is the fact that there is nothing in this bill that is providing any extra compensation for people to work on Easter Sunday. When they are required to work on Easter Sunday this Government is asking all workers to treat Easter Sunday as an ordinary day so that there is no extra payment and it is not recognised as the special day that we currently recognise it as. It is a spiritual day that is recognised by faith communities as a day of rest and as a day where you would want to be around your family. Traditionally Easter Sunday combined with Easter Monday has been a public holiday that many workers look forward to to take time out with their families.What is happening here—the way I read it—is that by opening up trading hours on Sunday this Government is intent on every fricking worker in New Zealand continuing to work work work and not getting ahead. That is what it has created—a class of workers who continue to work long hours almost every day and at the end of it they just cannot make ends meet. That is the cause. As I said this is in addition to the constant attacks by this Government over the last 8 years undermining workers' rights—undermining the rights of workers to be able to take time off on those Sundays that traditionally particularly Easter Sunday have been days where people rest and take time out with their families."