Mapp Wayne: Holidays (Transfer of Public Holidays) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Mapp Wayne: Holidays (Transfer of Public Holidays) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:650;Page:19263] 
Dr WAYNE MAPP (National—North Shore) 
: 
 National is supporting the Holidays (Transfer of Public Holidays) Amendment Bill. It is an irony that on the last day of Parliament in theory we are debating a bill that everyone has agreed on and yet this is the third amendment of the Holidays Act since it was enacted in 2003. We on this side of the House have been saying to the Government for some time now that this legislation should be properly reviewed and that there would obviously have to be a collaborative arrangement involving both employers and unions to get legislation that would be actually workable. 
What this amendment and previous amendments have shown and indeed what previous speeches have shown is that the Act developed by the Labour Government has not actually worked in practice. The irony is that the Labour Government was intending to simplify the Holidays Act. All I can say is that I have never seen so many amendments to what was supposed to be simplified legislation in employment law. This shows a Government that has frankly created a mess and we are having to fix that mess yet again—a third time in just 4 years. The legislation is simply deficient. Interestingly enough Mr Peter Brown noted that point as well in his speech. 
The irony of it also is that we have established at great expense a Supreme Court that ended up saying employers and employees could not even agree to have a common-sense arrangement. We have spent millions and millions of dollars establishing that court and it could not using its judicial power come up with a common-sense solution. It took very much a black-letter law approach to the legislation and we are being required to fix it here. I would have hoped that a court of that nature would be able to allow a bit more flexibility; that is after all one of the values of a court like the Supreme Court. No the legislation has come back here. 
It is National’s intent to fix these problems in the Holidays Act once and for all. We are committed should we be in Government to having a proper review. We will take into account the views both of employers and of unions because the legislation has to work for everyone concerned. People—both employers and employees—need to have certainty and the legislation has to be reasonably simple in application. The whole problem of this legislation which has been pointed out time and time again to the Government is that it is simply too complicated and Government has been unwilling to deal with the issues. Instead we get these piecemeal ad hoc amendments to cover up the mistakes. 
I know that Mr Mallard said there was a certain level of consensus around employment law; actually in some respects he is right. That certainly does not mean that the Government got much of it right. In fact in the Holidays Act it has got much of it wrong. The Labour Government does not understand—indeed it has never understood—the need for flexibility. That is why we would say—[ 
Interruption 
] 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Marian Hobbs) 
: I say to members that the debate is widening. Could we bring it back a little bit and then we might not have quite the amount of noise. 
Dr WAYNE MAPP 
: Surely on the last day you would want a certain level of interchange in the House— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Marian Hobbs) 
: Oh dear me no! 
Dr WAYNE MAPP 
: National is supporting the bill. We are recording our disappointment that we have to do yet again another fix-up job on botched legislation. The fact that this Government—on the last day—has to come back to Parliament to say we will do another fix-up job is completely reflective of its whole approach over the last 9 years. The Government has struggled with the concept of governing and it has struggled with the ability to have clear and understandable law. New Zealanders are looking forward to a better change in the future and in 6 to 8 weeks we will know the results. 
Bill read a second time.