McClay ToddHon TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua): Mr Speaker thank you very much. National will be supporting this but again with hesitance until the select committee does its job. I have to say we're starting to see a pattern from the Government as we move towards election year. It feels to me like they've realised they actually haven't done the work as Ministers of a Government that they should've and so they're rushing things out of departments before they're ready bringing them to the House and Government member after Government member after Government member is told to get up and read from the note that says We're looking forward to getting this to committee to hear from the public to try and fix it and make it better." Look if they'd been working as every single New Zealander had to from home when they were doing whatever they were doing on their pushbikes around the country when we were locked away then actually committees wouldn't have to fix pieces of legislation. They may well be looking to improve them but when we hear members say we'll have to fix some of these things it tells us it's a Government that's really lost its way.I'll tell you what's even more disappointing: we didn't hear from the Associate Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety nor a single member of the Government stand up and talk about what else they have to do around the immigration system which is getting it to work properly so good employers get the employees they need—skilled workers from overseas—into the country quickly and be able to look after them pay them well and run their businesses well. That's what's most disappointing in what the Government has brought to this House today. They're not talking about solving the problems that good employers have to help them get back on their feet pay off the debt run their businesses well. What they're doing is talking about people sitting behind a desk somewhere in Wellington—which is what most Government members do and they think that's the role the job of an MP—as they wave their papers at us from the other side with silly grins on their faces. Actually what they're saying is "We want officials to be sitting there not going out into the real world not helping businesses but burdening good businesses in the search for the few that are not good employers with extra bureaucracy extra paperwork and asking them to provide information without cause." It's such a scattergun effect.We heard from our spokesperson Erica Stanford earlier that when it comes to businesses who have migrant workers there who are bad employers the success rate of this Government in prosecutions is appallingly low. In fact the number of prosecutions that have been taken is about 10 percent of all of the cases that have been identified of employers of migrant workers who are breaking the rules and are not good employers. But rather than going out and saying "Well here's more resource." or actually to the department "Please get on and do your job properly." what they've done is come to this House and say "We need more rules." or "We need to make it easier for ourselves." Actually what the businesses in New Zealand want what the public wants and I'm sure what the migrant workers want is just a Government that will do its job not thinking that more and more rules placing burden upon companies that are good employers that are not doing anything wrong that actually can be left alone because they are responsible New Zealanders—you know that bringing more rules to attach to them is actually doing your job and sadly it's not.Anywhere in New Zealand where an employer is not a good employer—that's abusing workers whether they are migrants or they are residents—is wrong. The laws already deal with that. In most cases what's in this bill is already dealt with under the existing law. What we actually need is enforcement but that's not what this bill is doing. What this bill is doing is creating more burden upon good businesses and actually not altering the playing field at all for those businesses that are not good employers.There are two bits in particular that give me concern: this "without cause" part of this bill which really means that the Government can go on a fishing expedition at its will to look for those who may be doing wrong. Well even the police are not allowed to do that and the police are there to look after the most serious crimes. If the police believe that actually a worker is being abused in a workplace they have to have cause to go in there. So on the one hand the police force that are there to uphold the law have to have cause if they actually want to go and look into an issue but what this Government is doing is saying "No no we know best. We have bureaucrats in Wellington sitting there in their offices without windows and they can go out and ask anybody for information with any reason at all"—reasonably or unreasonably—"and they must comply and if they don't they're breaking the law and there's a fine." Well here's something novel for the Government: if there is a problem and you've identified it target that problem actually. Put in this piece of legislation that they must have cause—nobody would have issue with that. The police don't have an issue with that. But actually members of this House every Government member have stood up and said "When it comes to enforcing the law actually you have to have a reason to decide that you want to go and look into something but not in this case because of immigration."I hope what we're not seeing here is a Government that realises that the immigration system is not working because they have taken their eye off the ball. It's been underfunded but worse than that during their first three years in Government they actually were saying "We have too many people here in New Zealand. We don't like migration. We don't want people moving here. We don't want workers to come in." They virtually closed the system down; now they realise that actually there is a consequence to that decision: we don't have the skilled workers we need; we don't have the truck drivers. Actually in Rotorua yesterday there was a protest of hard-working owners of bars and restaurants that just want to open and run their restaurants properly and well. They pay well they are good employers but they don't have the workers that they need and they see no help from the Government. They were forced to actually—to be noticed—go out and protest and hold up signs. They didn't want to do that but they felt that they had to.So an immigration system that's not delivering for hard-working business people—you know that's still not letting in anywhere near the number of students that we should be attracting to study in New Zealand to better their lives to get the skills that perhaps allow them to be in the workforce. But actually because the Government fears that that's not working well—I hope this isn't what they call a "squirrel" that actually out here on the side we're doing a whole lot because there are bad employers and migrants can be taken advantage of. If that's the case they should come back to what our spokesperson Erica Stanford said that of all the cases that have been identified where there is exploitation of migrant workers about 10 percent are followed up on and prosecuted. Well that's just appalling. So let's say on this fishing expedition with this piece of possession where members of Immigration can go without cause to start getting information they find 10 businesses that actually are not doing what they should and are exploiting migrants. Well based on the Government's current record they're only going to prosecute one of those; the other nine will carry on with it.National stands opposed to the exploitation of workers and particularly the exploitation of migrant workers. It's not a good thing; that's why we're supporting this to select committee to help the Government members who are having to stand up in this House and read out the note that says we're going to have to fix this because it wasn't brought to us in the shape that it should have been. But unless that and many other issues are fixed unless the Government starts focusing on what the real problem is in New Zealand—an immigration system that's ground to a halt so good employers the vast majority of companies that employ in New Zealand can't get the workers that they need and they deserve and the other issues found in this bill—it would be very hard for us to support it because in the end whilst the Government's intention may be well-meaning if it doesn't deliver solutions all they're doing is giving false hope and wasting the time not only of this House but of the businesses that are actually hoping for something better. We will be supporting it but we're going to look for a lot of the changes in the committee. I feel sorry for the next member from the Government who's going to have to stand up and say once again "It's a good piece of legislation; I commend it to the House but we're going to have to fix it at committee.""