Fenton Darien: Employment Relations (Flexible Working Arrangements) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Fenton Darien: Employment Relations (Flexible Working Arrangements) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:642;Page:12058] 
DARIEN FENTON (Labour) 
: 
 Speaking on the title of the Employment Relations (Flexible Working Arrangements) Amendment Bill I think that some people have missed the point about the title and about what the amendment was about. Sue Kedgley has pointed it out but I want to repeat it. When the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee discussed this bill and discussed amending the title we realised that talking just about hours and days of work was not enough. If we are genuinely talking about flexible work then people need to have the right to request flexible work in other places. 
Many of us have grown up in the times when we were told that one day in our future life was going to be very different because technology would take over and we would all work shorter hours and we could work from home and so on. I am still waiting for that day. Certainly some of the more progressive employers that we see at the higher end of the market recognise that working from home is a productive way of accommodating flexible work needs for employees often after they have just had a baby and are still at home caring for the child or they have childcare responsibilities— 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: After they’ve had 14 weeks’ paid parental leave. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: Or when they have had 14 weeks’ paid parental leave which this Labour-led Government along with its partners introduced and the National Party opposed. 
Shane Jones 
: They don’t want parents to be assisted. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: That is right. 
We recognise also that there is a growing responsibility for our ageing population. Many many people are going to have to care for their older adults at home. I have just recently had that experience through my partner whose father was in hospital and his older mother at home. The responsibilities have fallen on my partner both for visiting his father in hospital and for having to take care of his older mother. He has a very good employer who allowed him to have flexible arrangements around his working hours— 
Paula Bennett 
: Is this about the title? 
DARIEN FENTON 
: Yes absolutely—and flexible arrangements that allowed him to do his work from other places. The title is about that. 
The difference between arrangements and working hours is very significant. The select committee certainly took that on board in recommending that the word “Hours” in the phrase “Flexible Working Hours” be replaced with the word “Arrangements” because it is a more accurate description of what the bill is all about and what we are trying to do in introducing modernising legislation perhaps to catch up with some other countries and accepting that New Zealand has fallen a little bit further behind other countries in having legislation that enables the right to request flexible arrangements. 
The title is all about that right. It is about flexible working arrangements but it is also simply about the right to request them. I know we will get on to that in further debate on the substance of the bill. The title is absolutely about working arrangements working in other places being able to request different working hours and part-time or shift work and about being able to have genuine flexibility that meets an arrangement with employers. “Arrangements” is a modern word that is used in other employment legislation. It fits in with our current employment legislation which members would see if they took a look at collective arrangements and other things. As such I think the change in title is entirely appropriate.