Goldsmith PaulHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. Interesting to hear that contribution from the previous speaker Kieran McAnulty who waxed lyrical about the freedom of association and the freedom of expression and said that you can't pick and choose about your principles and yet a couple of days ago voted for the waka-jumping legislation which was the complete opposite. How can he stand up with any sense of dignity when he's so compromised and makes no sense? It's all part of what is a morally and intellectually incoherent Government that we're dealing with.One of the puzzles that we've got at the moment is why business confidence should be falling at a time when the global economy is going strong and the New Zealand terms of trade are higher than they have been for a very long time. When the economy is booming and the prospects for New Zealand are great why is business confidence falling? Well I suppose you can find an explanation by watching the Minister of Employment's speech in this debate where he waved his arms around and talked about the terrible history of the 1990s and said the essence of this bill was about union rights and this was all going to be the solution to our problems. You can understand why business confidence is falling.Then we heard from Mr Jackson saying that—he talked about the shocking history of the National Party in this area. Well if the history that we've seen for the last two years where 245000 new jobs have been created in this economy is a shocking history it's a shocking history that I'm proud of and it's one that's made a real difference to the lives of New Zealanders.We hear constantly this talk about treating workers with dignity and respect. Well there's no greater dignity and respect to be gained than by getting a job and that is what this economy has been delivering over the past few years—245000 new jobs or more than 10000 a month. We've seen the average wage grow by $1300 a year since 2008. It now sits at $60000 a year. So we've seen great wage growth we've seen a jobs boom we've seen wage growth and we've had the overall economy continuing to boom. So that's the shocking history of the National Party and one that I'm very proud of.Where do jobs get created? They get created by individuals and companies taking a risk and making an investment. You are either investing in hiring a new person building a new plant or starting a new business. It's all taking a risk and making an investment. They do that only if they have a level of confidence that that investment is going to pay off and that's why it's so important to have a stable and predictable Government and one where people know where they stand. That's what we've had for nine years in this country and I do hope that it continues.I hope that the Minister responsible for this bill does genuinely listen to the submissions that come through the select committee process over the next few months. I hope he listens carefully and is willing to respond as he has demonstrated I guess through the negotiations with New Zealand First about the 90-day trial and winding that back a fraction. I hope he will continue to listen. He referred to robust discussions and my understanding is that they were more than robust—they were ropey. But if he continues that process and listens to the submissions that we get we might make some progress.What they don't seem to understand over there is the irony of the Minister of Employment coming out a couple of weeks ago about how he is going to spend $13 million by giving it to community groups in order to help some of the most marginal young people into work and then at the same time this bill greatly weakens the 90-day trial period which will make it more difficult for the most vulnerable people to get access to work.Hon Iain Lees-Galloway: You can't back that up. That's not true.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: That is the truth. It is pure common sense. If you are taking a risk and taking a gamble—Hon Iain Lees-Galloway: You cannot back that up with any evidence at all.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: Well just look to human nature. If you're taking a risk or you're taking a gamble about whether to hire a new person and you're confronted with the possibility of hiring somebody who is unskilled hasn't had any job experience might have a few social issues and hasn't got a great education and you want to take that risk would you be more likely to take that risk—DEPUTY SPEAKER: I wouldn't.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: —if you had the opportunity of a 90-day trial? Well I think the answer is obvious. Yes you would be more likely to take that risk and you are taking it away—DEPUTY SPEAKER: No I am not.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: —through this legislation. Quite right Madam Deputy Speaker—you are not taking it away. This Government is taking it away and taking away the hopes and dreams of many young people to get into the workplace.The other thing that we need to bear in mind is that the continued progress that we've had in this country the strong economic growth that we've had in this country results only from New Zealand remaining internationally competitive. We live—like it or not—in a big bad world out there that is highly competitive. New Zealand businesses compete in a highly competitive fast-moving international context. We need to continue to improve our productivity and we need to ensure that our businesses remain competitive. The only way to have sustainable increases in incomes over time such as we've seen over the past few years is for businesses to be more productive. There's no magic to it. You can't just wave your wand and say Legislate over the long term for higher wages." It has to be generated by a stronger economy. That comes from investment and the investment comes from a confident business sector prepared to make that investment and that is why there's such a concern that we're seeing a reduction in that investment.Now I want to refer to the comments made by this Government's own officials on this legislation. If we refer to the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) agency's assessment of some of the risks involved in this what they tell us is that we may well see "reduced employment due to changed incentives on employers to hire new workers". So that's interesting from the officials. That is one of the potential outcomes of this legislation—reduced employment.A second potential outcome is "an increase in industrial action and protracted bargaining due to the need to conclude agreements and include wages in collective agreements" and everybody in the country is well aware of the uptake of industrial action that we've seen since the election—the train strikes the public transport strikes which are dreadfully undermining the public's confidence in public transport. We'll see more of that to come and I just hope that they will think very carefully about this bill and the impact that it will have on "an increase in industrial"—I'm just quoting here from the officials' report on what the potential outcomes are of this legislation.We'll also see "an increase in partial strikes as removing pay deductions for partial striking may remove the disincentive to take partial strike action". Well again that's pretty common sense. If you can go on a go-slow or not be around for half the day but you continue to be paid well it's very likely that we'll see more of that activity.Then we see here that "reinstating the right to prescribed meal and rest breaks could lower firm productivity by not accounting for the necessary flexibility to avoid business interruption." The previous Government had brought in some extra flexibility. We see here that "There could be safety risks for essential services if breaks [are not] mandated. Insufficient flexibility [will] produce significant non-compliance among employers."So I think there's a lot for the select committee to consider. I'm looking forward to hearing from submissions. I do hope the Minister and this Government will genuinely listen to not just their funders and friends within the union movement—Hon Iain Lees-Galloway: Point of order.DEPUTY SPEAKER: I can anticipate the point of order. I did refer members earlier to page 49 of Speakers' Rulings. You cannot imply that a Government is funded from an organisation that is influencing what they're doing.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: I regret that implication. I will continue on by saying that I do hope that this Government and this Minister will listen carefully to a wide range of opinions and particularly take note of the views of those people—the employers—who are taking that risk and that gamble and that real chance when they invest in a new job. I hope that they will listen to the needs of them in terms of having some certainty around the industrial relations climate that we're inheriting.So we look forward to the discussion but I am deeply concerned about many of the things that have been outlined by MBIE as they've gone through the potential costs of this bill. Thank you."