Mathers MojoMOJO MATHERS (Green): I rise to take a call in the Committee stage on Part 1 of the Shop Trading Hours Amendment Bill. The Green Party absolutely opposes the reduction in the number of restricted shop trading hours and days. We already have only 3½ days of the year when shops cannot open and to sacrifice another one on the altar of consumerism is something we do not support. It is an important time for families to be able to plan ahead and it is an important time of the year to get together and organise around that. We also have very grave concerns about the requirement that the decision is going to be foisted on to local councils. This will impose a financial burden that they cannot easily sustain. I understand although I was not on the committee that heard the submissions that all the councils that submitted raised that point—that it would be a burden that they do not want. They are already struggling. We also have grave concerns about the impact on workers' rights. There seems to be a sort of illusion that a worker can just say: I don't want to work that day." and that will be the end of the story. I have no doubt that there will be some wonderful employers out there and that this bill will have no consequential impact and employees will be free to take the day off but that is not the reality of many employer-employee relationships. When you have extremely low-paid workers which is what a huge number of people working in the shop industry are—on minimum wages or very low wages—they are extremely anxious about job security. They are extremely anxious that any indication that they do not oblige with an employer's request will have repercussions. They are not in a position if they are refused to appeal that decision. There is very little understanding and awareness out there of workers' rights among many workers in New Zealand. For example just recently I have been involved with some members in the disability community who were being asked to do things that were completely unreasonable and they had no idea that actually the employer was making incredibly unreasonable requests on their time and being incredibly bullying. If you already have low self-esteem for whatever reason if you are already marginalised and you have ended up working in an industry that is a low-paid industry the ability to stand up to your employer and say: "This is my right. I have the right to take this day off because this day is important for me." just is not there. People do not even want to go there. They are nervous—anxious—and they do not understand their rights. Is the Government going to take on a huge education programme to educate employees of their rights especially around this bill? I do not see that here. Just sending a notice out so many days or weeks beforehand about the right to refuse is not enough and does not recognise the inherent power imbalance in that relationship. That is why we the Green Party are so very opposed to this bill and to these amendments. We feel that this legislation stems from a number of examples of flawed thinking. It is flawed thinking: we have to have every single day of the year all the shops open everywhere the length and breadth of the country—is that where it will end up? Will shops all be open on Christmas Day and Anzac Day and Good Friday? At the moment the focus is on Easter Sunday but where will it end up? There are only 3.5 days of the year when shops cannot open and these days are precious. We should keep them that way. This bill sabotages a very important part of the culture of New Zealand."