Sowry Roger: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Sowry Roger: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:620;Page:15669] 
11.  
Hon ROGER SOWRY (National) 
 to the  
Minister for Small Business 
: Does he believe the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill as reported back by the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee addresses all the concerns that the small-business sector currently has with employment law; if not why not? 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE (Minister for Small Business) 
: 
 Yes to this extent: I cannot think of any bill that has ever addressed all the concerns raised by a particular sector especially when the sector includes over 285000 individual businesses accounting for 97 percent of all Kiwi enterprises. 
Hon Roger Sowry 
: Has the Minister received any support from the small-business sector for the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill; if so from whom? 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: Yes I have received support. The Small Business Advisory Group has reported back on it and the select committee has reported back on it. A number of matters that have been addressed by the select committee have helped the sector immeasurably. 
Mark Peck 
: What evidence has the Minister seen that employment law is not the primary concern of small business? 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: Recent editions of the National Bank’s  
Small Business Monitor 
 have shown that skill shortages are the major concern of small businesses rather than compliance costs or employment law which seem to be the obsession of members opposite. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: I wonder whether the Minister could reconcile his answer whereby he claimed he had received support from small businesses with the fact that the select committee that heard the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill did not receive a single submission from any one of the 285000 small businesses in New Zealand in support of the bill; and now that he knows that how can he as Minister for Small Business support that bill? 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: Quite easily. The Small Business Advisory Group has made a fulsome report with 19 recommendations on behalf of the sector and we will be working through that over the next 12 months. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That answer was very close to deliberately misleading the House. That small-business report in no way supports the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill. Not one of the 19 recommendations advises the Government to support the amendment through the House. In fact when one reads that submission it puts in a number of recommendations for labour reform that are not included in the bill. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member has made his point but that was not a point of order. 
Peter Brown 
: Is the Minister aware that several of his colleagues have told small-business people that the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill will have no effect whatsoever on their operations; if he is aware of that and if he agrees with it will he consider producing a Supplementary Order Paper or ask his colleagues to produce a Supplementary Order Paper that exempts small businesses from the controls and prescriptions stipulated in the bill? 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: No I am not aware of that. 
Hon Roger Sowry 
: If the Minister has today been unable in the House to name any small-business proprietors who support the legislation how does he believe that the legislation has met the expectations he had for change when he stated earlier this year: “We’ll see what Swainy and the boys can get up to now the girl’s out of the way for a little while when the bill gets reported back.”? 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: I am grateful that “Swainy” has reported back from the select committee but let me broach just one or two issues in a whole list I have here. I respectfully refer the member to page 5 paragraph (4) of the report. It states that the circumstances of an employer’s situation will now be taken into account in determining whether a breach of good faith has occurred in individual bargaining as is already the case for collective. This is particularly important for small businesses because it takes into account the actual size of them. It is from a small test up. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That is sufficient reply.