Sabin Mike: Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSabin Mike: Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 17 April 2013. Volume:689;Page:9463. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MIKE SABIN (National—Northland): Thank you. Kia ora. I appreciate the greeting. Can I firstly take an opportunity just to acknowledge David Clark the member introducing this bill the Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill and—Hon Trevor Mallard: The reverend doctor.MIKE SABIN: That is the one. As I now understand I can always rely on the Hon Trevor Mallard to correct me if I go astray—very helpful very helpful. I do appreciate having a wing man with such integrity. Can I acknowledge Grant Robertson also as the original author of this bill and the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee. I am now a member of that select committee but I was not involved in this process. It is worthy of acknowledging the fact that when any member sees legislation pass through this House there has been a lot of hard work undertaken in that.However as members will be aware the National Party will not be supporting this bill. For me it comes down to quite a fine balance. First and foremost for me as a former naval officer and serviceman the recognition of Anzac Day—the full recognition of Anzac Day—is not something that requires Mondayisation. Let us make it very clear that Anzac Day needs no form of recognition other than the fact that it isAnzac Day a time at which this nation gathers together to remember the sacrifices and the lives that were lost in 1915 in Gallipoli and all the other conflicts in which New Zealand servicemen have upheld the honour of this country and democracy. That is something that I do not believe needs a public holiday in order to be recognised.Darien Fenton: It already is a public holiday.MIKE SABIN: Well it certainly does not need Mondayisation. I will come to that member’s points in due course.For me the special significance of that day runs the risk of being lost in the idea of a public holiday—a 3-day weekend being the reason for celebration. And as we say goodbye to the last of those most senior veterans it falls upon the next generation and their children to pick up that baton and carry it as we remember those who survived those wars and have passed on. For me that is something that certainly does not need the recognition of a bill such as this which really in its title underpins I think exactly what it is about: the Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill. It somehow suggests that there is not adequate recognition of those days and that by making it a long weekend we will somehow more fully recognise them. I believe that that is unnecessary.As to the question of Waitangi Day as a member of Parliament for Northland again it is a very very special and significant day for the nation. It is a day that has seen some controversy. I remember as a policeman one or two battles of the bridge as we used to call them up there but I have to say that on the last Waitangi Day this year in 2013 there was definitely a change of mood at that place where the Treaty was signed. None the less it is a very very significant day to this nation. It signifies the modern New Zealand that we know now. It was a starting point for that. And as a member of Parliament for that area it is very important for me that that day is recognised for what it actually is.Some have referred to it as New Zealand Day. In fact members of the Labour Party in years gone by have done that. I want to read just a couple of quotes fromHansard that reflect the sentiment of the Labour Party of old. It may have some views as to what today’s Labour Party is about. I will leave that for the punters out there to speculate on.Former Minister of Māori Affairs Matiu Rata said: “Like Anzac Day New Zealand Day is not to be Mondayised. It is the significance of the occasion that is important rather than the fact that it is to be a paid public holiday. It should not be regarded as merely an extra paid holiday.” That is one of them.We heard the member Darien Fenton who spent most of her 10-minute speech talking about workers holidays and so on and so forth and although everyone will accept that an honest hard day’s work deserves recognition in terms of a break again I come back to my original point about what these days are actually about what they mean in the hearts and minds of New Zealanders versus becoming some default setting as another holiday another long weekend.It goes on because former Minister of Internal Affairs Mr May also of the Labour Party said: “The Government believes the Mondayising of New Zealand Day … would detract from the importance and significance of the event it commemorates.” Former MP Paraone Rēweti said that the committee considered that it was justified—Hon Trevor Mallard: Who?MIKE SABIN: Do you want me to write that down for you Mr Mallard?Hon Trevor Mallard: Yeah yeah yeah.MIKE SABIN: I will send it over in a note for you.Hon Trevor Mallard: Where does he come from?MIKE SABIN: I am sure you know. You must be a great author of the Labour Party history I am sure. That member certainly carved his name well into it.Grant Robertson: I think he was here.MIKE SABIN: Yeah well that is good. Then the member should know so there is no need to ask me. I am sure he can make a mental note for himself. Mr Rēweti said that the committee considered that it was justified in declaring that Waitangi Day should not be Mondayised because the Labour Party had gone to the electors in 1972 on the policy that Waitangi Day would not be Mondayised. If the member Trevor Mallard was here he probably remembers a lot of those speeches. He probably remembers what the old Labour Party the working Labour Party of old was all about.But I come to my point which the member Darien Fenton has raised and it is about the consistent attack as she puts it by the New Zealand National Party on the workers. That is ironic given that the member who introduced this bill David Clark also introduced the Minimum Wage Amendment Bill which sought to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. If we could just legislate the minimum wage without any consequence to the employer who ultimately has to find the means to employ that person then why stop at $15? Why not chuck $25 $50 or maybe $100 an hour? That member David Clark considers himself to be the best spokesman on economics in 50 years and yet he has been a member who has single-handedly introduced two members’ bills to this House both of which have a significant fiscal consequence to the employer.Andrew Little: No they don’t.MIKE SABIN: They do. Of course they do.Andrew Little: No they don’t.MIKE SABIN: Well I am not going to listen to the union strongman over there bellowing his comments from across the floor because at the end of the day—and that member would have to recognise this—at some point employers need to find money to pay their employees. To do that they have to be actually making a profit and there is a very fine line there. So the member who has introduced this bill the so-called economic spokesperson will actually be hurting small and medium sized businesses. That is what that is about.Can I just close by saying that I acknowledge the work that David Clark has done. I respect the parliamentary process that has been followed here and for me this has been about a fine balance. It has been a very fine balance.Andrew Little: You know you want to vote for it. Come on Mike.MIKE SABIN: No I certainly will not be. I certainly will not be. It has been a fine balance and for me it falls on the side of those servicemen in particular. As we approach Anzac Day can I just acknowledge those fallen soldiers and servicemen from across New Zealand who have served this country so well in upholding our place in the world and doing our bit and far more those veterans who have survived those wars and the existing servicemen who are out there serving our country today.On Anzac Day I will proudly be standing there to commemorate and to acknowledge those people. I wonder whether Mr Clark will be confronted with a little bit of flack as a result of this bill. Can I close by saying that Anzac Day is a very important day to all New Zealanders and I look forward to this Anzac Day to celebrate commemorate and remember those who have fallen. Lest we forget.