Robertson Grant: Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Robertson Grant: Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:668;Page:15015] 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to take a call on new clause 2A. I share with my colleague Chris Hipkins some conflicted views about 8 November. It is obviously the date on which the National Government won the election and although democracy had its say then I think that many New Zealanders who voted for the National Party are now regretting that. They are regretting that on 8 November—the day that we would have this bill expire—they voted for a Government that would come into office promising to do all kinds of things but that would then go back on those promises. We have had the example of raising GST. But those New Zealanders who voted for the National Party on 8 November 2008 would not have thought that in doing so they would be contributing to giving away part of New Zealand sovereignty. They have contributed to putting forward a bill and supporting legislation in this Parliament that is apparently—although Gerry Brownlee is not sure—about acquiescing to the demands of a corporation in America in the form of Warner Bros and about saying we will change our law and do whatever it takes no matter what it is to do what that corporation wants. 
The expiry date of this legislation on 8 November as proposed by Trevor Mallard is clearly something that the editorial writer of the  
New Zealand Herald  
would support. But perhaps what is even more interesting than that to me are the letters to the editor that sit beside the editorial in this morning’s  
New Zealand Herald 
 
from everyday New Zealanders which look at what the National Government has done and ask what it is about. I will read the very end of the first letter: “The Government has made it clear that our sovereignty and democracy are there for the highest bidder. Either that or this was just a ruse to rush through further attacks on the few remaining rights of working people.” 
That is the question. That is the question that needs to be answered in this Chamber. On this side of the Chamber it sure looks as if there has been some rampant opportunism from the National Government—rampant opportunism from the National Government. Having created a crisis because of Gerry Brownlee’s inaction as Minister for Economic Development in not keeping the relationship with Warner Bros going the National Government has had crisis management ensue. The Government has then broken out into opportunism and said: “Here’s another chance to attack workers in New Zealand. We’re doing it already with the 90-day bill and we’re doing it already with restricting union access; here’s another opportunity.” 
Hon Tau Henare 
: What’s that got to do with what we’re supposed to be talking about Mr Chair? 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: We want this bill I say to Mr Henare to expire on 8 November under new clause 2A because we believe that the bill is bad law. The  
New Zealand Herald  
editorial is exactly right: these kinds of deals lead to bad law; this is that bad law. The Government has come to this Chamber unsure about why it is putting up this bill. It is either because Warner Bros forced its hand or because some huge dramatic problem in the film industry and the video game making industry needed to be solved. 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: Don’t constrain yourself. You’ve limited understanding of these matters. 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: I am sorry; what did Mr Brownlee say—my “limited understanding of these matters”? If Mr Brownlee had any Wellington MPs in his caucus who were paying attention they would know that over the last 2 years there have been huge concerns about whether  
The Hobbit 
 would be made at all as a movie because of the problems going on in Warner Bros and the problems going on in MGM. Those problems happened; Mr Brownlee did nothing to find out. He did not go to visit the studios and he did not even try to get out there to see whether New Zealand’s film industry needed a little bit of assistance from the Minister for Economic Development. Whatever some people might say about my colleague Trevor Mallard—and they do say a lot—he worked hard on those relationships when he was the Minister for Economic Development. He made sure that New Zealand actually was there. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: 120 movies. 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: One hundred and twenty movies were made; 120 feature-length movies were made under the Labour Government’s watch because we worked hard on building those relationships. We made sure that there were people in the Hollywood film industry who knew that New Zealand was committed to that. In the last 2 years in Wellington when most Wellingtonians who had any connection with the film industry were aware of the problems at the Hollywood end Gerry Brownlee did nothing. 
This bill should expire on 8 November because the writers of the letters to the editor in the  
New Zealand Herald— 
bar one of them—are correct. They are correct in saying that it seems that New Zealand is just prepared to sell itself off to the highest bidder. We know on this side of the Chamber that the  
New Zealand Herald  
is not always known as a harbinger of radical left-wing thought but here it is—