Brown Peter: Holidays (Transfer of Public Holidays) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Brown Peter: Holidays (Transfer of Public Holidays) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:647;Page:15880] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 I listened to that speech with some degree of interest but I cannot work out what the hell the member Paula Bennett was on about. Maybe I am a bit slow today but she was going on about relevant daily pay—clearly she wants to cut it back; clearly she wants to reduce it. Then she asks why people go to Australia. The answer is because they get paid more. 
I listened to the National Party at the time of the Holidays Act 2003. The Act incorporated 4 weeks of holiday pay. At the time National members told this House and the select committee that if the legislation were passed the world would end. They said that if New Zealanders were given 4 weeks’ annual holiday the world would end. Australians have had this law for umpteen years I think. How many years? 
Hon Mark Gosche 
: Probably about 30 years. 
PETER BROWN 
: The member tells me now that they get 5 weeks there. I say to the National member who has just resumed her seat that I know people who have emigrated to Australia and I asked them specifically why they went over there. Does the member know the answer? She might be interested in this and she might be surprised. First of all it is because of the weather. 
Shane Ardern 
: What? 
PETER BROWN 
: The weather. Second it is because of the wages. Third they contend that Australians look after their children better than we do here. Fourth and finally Australians are more patriotic. They take pride in their nation. Here we sell ourselves very short. I just thought the member might be interested in why people go to Australia. 
It is true that relevant daily pay was a concern to New Zealand First at the time of the passing of the Holidays Act in 2003 but we have grown to live with it and so have most employers. It saddens me that the member who has just resumed her seat wants to cut it back. Employers who speak to me tell me that their biggest concern is recruiting people. Unemployment has gone down so low in recent times that they cannot get staff. They are prepared to pay a bit more and they are considering wages and conditions much more thoroughly but they cannot recruit people because unemployment has gone down so dramatically. 
This is a very simple bill. I will just read a little bit from the explanatory note: “The Bill amends the Holidays Act 2003 to allow for a public holiday to be transferred where certain circumstances are met. The proposed amendment will ensure that where an employee’s shift spans 2 calendar days and 1 of those days is a public holiday an employer and employee can enter into a genuine agreement to transfer the public holiday to a 24-hour period that begins or ends on the public holiday. Such a transfer cannot reduce an employee’s statutory right to public holidays.” What could be more straightforward than that? It is very simple and it is easily understood. 
It might well come as a surprise to the National members who have been so critical of the bill that both Business New Zealand and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions want this legislation to be passed immediately. The explanatory note states: “The alternative options identified above”—I will not go into that—“have been discussed with Business NZ and the NZCTU who support the amendment and consider that the costs of time delay and uncertainty need to be addressed immediately.” It is straightforward. 
Kate Wilkinson 
: That’s what we’re saying. 
PETER BROWN 
: We do not need all this whingeing from Kate—whatever her name is; I have forgotten her surname I do apologise. 
Hon Member 
: Wilkinson. 
PETER BROWN 
: Kate Wilkinson—I do apologise; I forgot the name. I cannot remember everything. This bill should go without delay to the select committee. It is a very straightforward bill. I doubt there will be many objections—perhaps only National members will object to the bill at the select committee in their submissions. I cannot find any flaws in this bill whatsoever. It identifies an issue that needs to be addressed. New Zealand First will support the bill going to a select committee and in all probability right the way through the House.