Bridges Simon: Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBridges Simon: Estimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 02 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19189. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Minister of Labour):What a speech of petty point-scoring from the Opposition member Andrew Little. It absolutely missed the big picture and the great reforms that this Government has taken forward for workers and employers alike over the last several years. Talk about the language we are hearing from Labour people at the moment. Talk about not giving a damn or a toss. It was not as bad as David Shearer who swore on national radio this morning. My delicate ears could not take the kind of language we are getting from these members. It is clearly showing the stress that they are under.This Government is doing a whole lot of good in this area and it has a very proud record. Let us go through some of the things that we have just heard from Andrew Little about the minimum wage—[Interruption] Well yes. Actually if we had not done that we would be casualising and condemning the workers he says he cares about. We were returning things to the status quo and making sure that workers on farms got the fair go that he says he cares about. I say “petty point-scoring” because we have seen press releases on some really good things that this Government has done for workers from those members and from the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions and it is very disappointing indeed to see that kind of attitude. We have seen a lift in the number of labour inspectors through the Budget so it is hard again to know why Andrew Little is saying the kinds of things he is saying. We have seen minimum employment standards—a discussion document gone out—where we are seeking to significantly lift things so that there are criminal penalties where there is exploitation of workers and so on.What did we see from Labour and the unions? Petty point-scoring. They could not focus on the absolute good despite the fact I might say that the Council of Trade Unions came into my office with the Employers and Manufacturers Association calling for the very changes I then made. They went on Radio New Zealand National and criticised me. Well I say that is petty and it would be great to see the Labour Party stand up for some good reforms that this Government is doing which if Labour was honest with itself it would support.Look at the Employment Relations Amendment Bill and the changes that this Government wants to make. It has gone through the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee. There were moderate changes and yet all we get is the scaremongering from that side. We heard about the 90-day trial periods. Well what we did not hear Andrew Little say was that a third of employers—small-business owners in this country which is what this country is made up of—said that they took on people whom they would not have otherwise and they gave people a go. That is real change. That is real difference. A third of employers gave a job to people who would not have otherwise got one and I say that that is pro-employers and it is pro-workers.Frankly it is very disappointing to see the sort of left-wing attitude we get from the Labour Party and the Green Party—oppose oppose oppose rather than be constructive on these issues. Again they try to find any angle on the health and safety reform to criticise it. “Well it is not tripartite and it is not this.” Well it is and I differ on that matter from Andrew Little. But let us all agree on this: this is the biggest health and safety reform this country has seen in at least 20 years. There is significantly more funding into a well-resourced regulator. There are significant law changes coming. If I was to be cruel to the Darien Fentons and the Andrew Littles I would say that we have seen serious reform from this Government when actually over 9 years of Labour nothing happened—nothing happened. I think we actually need to face the facts on that on some of these issues.To Mr Little I say: “Well if you care about workers Mr Little what do you say to the 7000 oil and gas workers in Taranaki with a party that flip-flops on issues without a skerrick of evidence like the Māui’s dolphins?”. We expect to see scaremongering over there from the Green Party on that but to his credit David Cunliffe finally got to the position—the right position—that there has not been a single Māui’s dolphin harmed from oil and gas exploration over the 40 years that that has been going on in Taranaki. We have seen protests and we have seen calls from Labour candidates for me to be sacked. David Cunliffe to his credit finally got to the right position. Well I wonder whether Tāmati Coffey is going to be calling for him to be sacked. We in this party care about workers. We have done really good reforms. It is just a shame that Labour and the Greens cannot bring themselves to support them.