Clark David: Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Clark David: Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 27 June 2012. Volume:681;Page:3484. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Dr DAVID CLARK (Labour—Dunedin North) 
: 
 I move  
That the Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. 
 I nominate the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee to consider the bill. It is with great pleasure that I rise to speak to a bill that was drawn on my first regular sitting day as a new MP and I look forward to many more bills being drawn in my name before the year is out. This bill the Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill corrects an anomaly that occurs roughly twice every 7 years. When this glitch happens New Zealanders miss out on the usual full complement of 11 public holidays. All 11 public holidays are listed in the Holidays Act but only two are missed out when it comes to ensuring a corresponding day off with the family. Those days are Waitangi Day and Anzac Day. Most years Waitangi Day and Anzac Day commemorations are deemed to warrant an additional day of rest and recreation but on the odd year usually when they fall on the weekend this is not the case. The commemoration occurs but under current law no additional day of rest and recreation is granted. 
The issue of missed public holidays came into sharp focus last year when hard-working Kiwis got only nine of their 11 public holidays. In 2010 both Waitangi Day and Anzac Day fell on a weekend. Hard-working Kiwis were not happy. Before I proceed further I wish to place on record my thanks to the astute member Grant Robertson who immediately set about drafting a bill that would correct this situation. It is that same bill that Grant Robertson drafted that I inherited when I arrived in this House and it is this bill that I am proud to champion because it is a good bill and because it is the right thing to do. 
New Zealanders work amongst the longest hours in the OECD. This bill alone will not fix that but it is a step in the right direction. Having 11 holidays guaranteed every year allows people to plan time together as a family and employees up and down the country value every opportunity they can get to spend time with their families. Employers I have spoken to value this too actually. They too want to be able to know with some certainty that their family members can plan to take days off that coincide with their own days off. Mondayising Waitangi Day and Anzac Day not only provides more time to spend with the kids and grandkids but it gives these days the full recognition that other public holidays have. It recognises the growing significance of Anzac to our growing national sense of history and identity and it makes forward planning simpler. Having carried responsibility for employing staff in the past I know that employers make provision for public holidays. Under current law it is only in those odd years when these holidays fall out that employers have to adjust their provisions. 
I want to thank members across the House for their indications of support for the first reading of this bill: honourable members Peter Dunne Hone Harawira the Maori Party the Green Party and of course my Labour colleagues. Further expressions of support will of course be welcomed at any time. One important thing to note early in the debate is that this initiative does not carry a huge cost. The Minister of Labour asked for estimates of costs from her department and it provided estimates that would suggest that this bill could cost 13c per worker per day. I want to challenge these figures that the Prime Minister relied upon in his initial public comment on this bill. I believe the Prime Minister has not been well served with this advice. I think this is an important point because the Labour Party is a responsible party and accepts that cost to employers is one factor that needs to be taken into account when deciding whether or not something like this is a good idea. 
Information released to me under the Official Information Act shows that officials have focused on counting the costs of the legislative change without considering the offsetting benefits. Their calculations were incomplete and it is very unfortunate that the Prime Minister was reliant upon them when he made his original cautious responses to my bill. To be fair to the Prime Minister he did not rule out supporting the bill at that stage but instead requested further information and well he might. The calculations he relied upon fail to account for a range of ameliorating factors. Employment and hours worked by self-employed people who are not even subject to the Holidays Act are included in his calculations and productivity gains from the benefits of having rested workers are not and extra benefits from increased domestic tourism are not counted either. That is like counting the downsides of a mortgage without recognising the fact that you own a house. As well no account has been taken in the 13c cost estimate of the fact that employers can make changes to the way they operate their businesses and who works on which days further reducing costs. The Government papers I have seen also note more than once that the cost calculations provided are likely to be overstated. Furthermore email traffic preceding official advice to the Minister acknowledges the likelihood of benefits to the economy but proposes investigating no further lest the results be ambiguous. Without wanting to cast doubt on the impartial advice provided by officials this does seem a lot like cherry picking. 
Given that the bill is plain common sense I hope National members will take the time to work through the full calculation and realise that even their 13c calculation is grossly overstated. The full calculation reveals that the cost is negligible. Even working with the estimate of 13c employer’s advocate John Walley was forced to admit that he was being a Grinch in speaking against this bill. But we now know that 13 cents is an overstatement. It is even possible that once domestic tourism and the increased productivity of rested workers are properly taken into account this bill may have a net positive effect on our economy. 
Regardless of all of that National must not stand in the way of hard-working Kiwis’ entitlement to 11 statutory days off each and every year. I have been delighted with the general public’s overwhelmingly positive response to this bill. Every major newspaper and many regional newspapers in New Zealand have carried editorials welcoming the legislation. 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: Even the  
ODT 
. 
Dr DAVID CLARK 
: Including the  
Otago Daily Times 
. I think we have established that the bill will be good for hard-working Kiwis and their families and that there is not really a significant downside to this. But we may ask ourselves whether anything else will change when Waitangi Day and Anzac Day are Mondayised. For starters the day of celebration will not change. Waitangi Day will still be celebrated on 6 February each year and Anzac Day will still be celebrated on 25 April. I have received much support since my bill was drawn and also a few letters expressing concern that the day might be changed. I am very pleased to put on record that it will not. The proposition that is put forward in this bill is the same as that which operates in respect of Christmas and New Year’s Day. Christmas is still celebrated on 25 December each year even when it falls on a weekend. The only difference is that Kiwis know that they can count on a holiday being added on after Boxing Day. Likewise when New Year’s Day falls on a weekend revellers do not hold off their celebrations. Instead they count on a subsequent and additional day of recreation. 
Australians do this already and it works for them. Reports suggest they are observing a trend of growing attendances at dawn services. Like it is here Anzac Day is also important to Australians’ sense of history and identity. Seven out of eight Australian jurisdictions Mondayise Anzac Day and their equivalent of Waitangi Day Australia Day enjoys similar support. The Mondayisation of Anzac Day enjoys widespread support in Australia because it honours the sacrifice of our forebears and the freedoms for which they fought. I note that the Government requested advice from officials on the prevalence of Mondayisation for holidays in Australia and the United Kingdom and has been advised that public holidays are usually Mondayised in both jurisdictions. It is what we usually do here and it makes sense.