Ryall Tony: Minimum Wage Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Ryall Tony: Minimum Wage Amendment Bill — In Committee 
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Hon TONY RYALL (NZ National—Bay of Plenty) 
: 
 The National Party in Opposition will be opposing the commencement date in the Minimum Wage Amendment Bill. We have tabled an amendment that will defer the commencement date until after the election of the next National-led Government in 2005. With a commencement date of 30 November 2005 the next National-led Government will have an opportunity to repeal this bill. The reasons we want to defer the commencement date are set out very clearly in the regulatory impact statement that the Government itself has tabled in this Chamber. People listening on their radios tonight should know— 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member knows he cannot refer to radios. 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: That is a new ruling is it not? 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Speaker’s ruling 39/1. 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: People who are listening tonight in the gallery will want to know that this bill proposes to remove the exemption whereby up to 26000 young New Zealanders receive on-the-job training and as such get a payment that is lower than the minimum wage. The Government has advised Parliament that the proposed change will have an impact on the Government’s finances which will come from increased benefit payments as a result of job losses over time. The Government has also advised Parliament that there will be a decline in the amount of training provided by employers and that that will have an effect on training and has further advised that that will increase compliance costs for employers and business in general. 
The National Party asks why we would want to deny young New Zealanders the opportunity to have on-the-job training to increase the number of people on the dole to reduce the amount of training in the economy and to make business compliance costs higher than they already are. The National Party asks why we would do that. I think it is clear that this Government is doing it as part of its continual programme of payback to the trade union movement. There is no doubt that this legislation is union-driven promoted by the hard left of the Labour Party. If one looks at the introductory debate we see that the Ministers Margaret Wilson and Laila Harré crowed about this bill. They represent the politically correct spa-pool liberals who make up the Government and they were the people who most promoted this bill. 
This bill is anti-business it is anti-growth and it is anti-training. Why would we want to support legislation that as the Government knows will put young people on the dole? The Government has told us that. It is on page 3 of the explanatory note. Why would we want to support legislation that will lead to a decline in the amount of training in the economy? The Government has told us that. It is on page 4 of the explanatory note and further on on that page is the advice that this legislation will add to the compliance cost for employers. The National Party says that those are compelling arguments made by the Government not to support this legislation. 
The National Party stands very clearly on the side of young people who want to have an opportunity and the chance to get ahead. My colleague Judith Collins will be attempting to take a call to outline to the Committee what the Government will be doing. What it will be doing will be forcing a whole lot of people to stop being lower-paid trainees and to become volunteers. They will become volunteers in the workplace and they will not get any payment at all. They will be on the dole. They will be volunteers in the workplace learning those skills and they will not get paid. That is the point. They will miss the opportunity to get some compensation while they are training because this legislation will drive significant numbers of young people into being volunteers in the workforce—where they will get no payment—and an increased number of people on to the unemployment benefit. What this country needs to lift its growth prospects is a National-led Government and a flexible labour market.