Hughes GarethGARETH HUGHES (Green): Kia ora Mr Chair. Ngā mihi ki a koutou. Kia ora. If anyone listening listened to that last member Brett Hudson you would think that this bill was apple pie—that it was all about choice and freedom and the great slogans that the member could come up with. But if anything it showed how out of touch that member and the caucus members are because sure it is about choice and about freedom—but choice and freedom for a tiny few and drudgery working on the weekends and less time with your family for the majority of New Zealanders.To show how out of touch that is I went through the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives. Standing Order 48 says this Parliament cannot meet on a Sunday: this Parliament needs to close at 11.59 p.m. on Saturday evenings even during extraordinary urgency. For 50 days of the year this House cannot sit yet it is all about choice and freedom for the retail workers the people at the fish and chip shops—all the people who do not have that choice and freedom who we do know are going to feel pressured into working. So let us not gild the lily with this sloganistic" language; let us say what it is. This is another plank in the Government's agenda which is all about choice and freedom for a small number of New Zealanders—the employers. It is not about choice and freedom for the rest of them.For many years this country has had what is called a search for flexibility in workplace relations. I remember reading a very influential book by the noted Bill Sutch that described a period in New Zealand's history as the search for security. We have lost that search for security for workers in the name of flexibility: in terms of the ability for capital and labour to be ported around the world. We are seeing a clear Government agenda—you saw it with the 90 days legislation; you saw with the dodgy deal with Warner Bros which reduced those workers' rights. There is a litany of legislation that has weakened workers' rights and you see it in Part 1 of this bill. In this bill what we see is this relentless attack on workers' rights in New Zealand. This is the 10th time in 19 years this Parliament has debated this very issue to try to weaken what is only one of 3½ days when our shops in New Zealand must be closed. We have 3½ days but this group relentlessly—like the Terminator from that film—despite 10 defeats in 19 years ploughs on to try to take one of those 3.5 days.Marama Davidson: Groundhog Day.GARETH HUGHES: It is like Groundhog Day: where this Parliament is continually voting on the same legislation. And the Government is not going to give up because it is about choice and freedom for some.In Part 1 of this legislation the debate has kicked the responsibility to someone else—to the councils—through the by-laws powers. We sat on the Commerce Committee. I want to thank the submitters the chair—Melissa Lee—and the other members. It was interesting being on a split tied committee because we could not agree to those amendments and the bill has been reported back. The concern we have about delegating responsibility to the councils through by-laws is that we are going to see inconsistencies. We are going to see more costs not only for employees who maybe give up family time on one of our only 3.5 days of the year when shops must be closed but also costs for employers and those associated groups. We are going to see varying rules across the country bringing in considerable inconsistencies. And as we have seen with other by-laws challenged through legitimate process no doubt we are going to see some of these decisions go through the court adding a second layer of inconsistencies and confusions.This is a bad bill. In the personal vote I will be voting against it. I have been one of those low-paid workers where you do feel pressured by your employer to work overtime to work on the weekend and to drop everything to make sure you can turn up to work—because you do not have the choice and the freedom. You do not have the security of knowing where the next pay cheque is going to come from. We have already got these incredibly lax laws; we do not need to be weakening them further. That is why I am voting against this."