Parmar ParmjeetDr PARMJEET PARMAR (National): I am taking this call to support the Employment Relations (Allowing Higher Earners to Contract Out of Personal Grievance Provisions) Amendment Bill in the name of Scott Simpson. Actually I want to congratulate Scott Simpson on his bill being drawn from the ballot. This bill in the name of Scott Simpson is to amend the Employment Relations Act 2000 to allow employees earning more than $150000 as their annual gross salary to contract out of personal grievance provisions.The personal grievance provisions in this bill can override all other agreements that the two parties might have entered into—that is the employer and the employee. Sharing my experience—before getting into Parliament I had the opportunity to work on both sides as an employee and then later as an employer. From my very first employment all I remember is the excitement of getting that employment agreement. All I looked at in the employment agreement was the number of hours and my job description. I have to say that when moving from one employment to another employment I was very lucky because there was no situation where I had to go back and look into my employment agreement to clarify the terms and conditions. I do not know whether it was just my luck or whether unknowingly I was wisely picking my employers.Then later on as an employer I had the opportunity to work with very very hard-working people. It was then when I realised the importance of having a really good employment agreement. It is always good to specify things in the employment agreement and leaving very little to be interpreted later on. Employers can foresee some things that employees cannot. Employers know whether they are going to downsize their business in 3 years' or 5 years' time whether they are going to upgrade the technology or whether there is going to be a change of location because that could create an inconvenience for employees. So there are a lot of things that employers can see but employees cannot and it is really good to specify them in an employment agreement. We also know that if there is no employment agreement the minimum employment standards still apply.But this bill is special. This bill is to amend section 102 in Part 9 of the Employment Relations Act. Section 102 provides that An employee who believes that he or she has a personal grievance may pursue that grievance under this Act." Section 103 after that lists possible reasons that could provide grounds for personal grievance. As we have heard from previous speakers they include unjustifiable dismissal; unjustifiable action of the employer; any form of discrimination which could be racial or sexual; constraints due to membership or non-membership of a union or employees' organisation; and non-compliance with the Act or various parts of the Act by the employer. What this bill does is it provides another option by adding another section which is new section 102A. This is to allow employees who earn more than $150000 as their annual gross salary to contract out of Part 9.The logic behind this is that people—those who earn more than $150000—cannot be forced into signing something. This will not be taken lightly. As we have heard from the member in charge of this bill Scott Simpson this kind of an agreement will be entered into in the presence of a lawyer. It will be witnessed by a lawyer so this is not going to be taken lightly. This is about providing another option to employers and employees.The other important thing is that this will be for individual employment agreements. It will be only for individual employment agreements that employees will be able to contract out of Part 9 of the Employment Relations Act 2000. It is not for collective employment agreements. I support this bill and commend it to the House. Thank you."