Little Andrew: Employment Standards Legislation Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLittle Andrew: Employment Standards Legislation Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 08 March 2016. Volume:711;Page:9501. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition): I feel privileged and honoured to take a call on these final concluding stages of this piece of legislation. The Employment Standards Legislation Bill is vital in a world and in a labour market when actually standards minimum standards and the idea of certainty are becoming rare commodities for far too many workers. The idea now that we have a provision that makes it very clear for workers that they cannot be compelled into an agreement that tells them they must be available or must be at work with no guarantee of any work at all—the fact that that has now gone when that was endorsed in the earlier draft of this legislation is a welcome development in this legislation. So I think the Committee tonight—although I would never suggest it congratulate itself—can reflect well with the rest of New Zealand that it has done its job of reflecting the sorts of standards that New Zealand would expect in our employment legislation.The same can be also said for the parental leave and employment protection parts of the legislation—now having provision for parents whose child is born prematurely so that they can have some certainty for themselves that those entitlements will be available for them.This draws on work that members on this side of the House have done. These are basic things that working New Zealanders once upon a time expected—took for granted perhaps. Now we live in an age when for a lot of working people the idea that they not only have standards but have the means to enforce them is becoming something that is out of their reach. So I think it is a great moment for this House that we take this legislation which started its life in an inferior form and through the good work of MPs—certainly on this side of the House and indeed in the whole House—and have now arrived at a bill that is in a shape and we can proudly go out to all New Zealanders and say: “This seriously starts to set good minimum standards.”The provisions relating to the requirement for employers to keep a record of minimum entitlements for their employees—I in the early part of my professional life learnt how to conduct a wages and time book inspection which is something that you do not hear much of these days. In fact I am not sure even labour inspectors know how to do them. But the idea now that employers know that they have to keep a record of employees’ minimum entitlements and the extent to which their employees are getting them I think starts to turn the clock back which we had seen ticking in the last 30 years and the idea that it is OK to talk about minimum standards—this bill now reflects that.Let us acknowledge and let us celebrate the work that has been done. The Minister has worked very hard obviously with members on this side and with no less a personage than Iain Lees-Galloway to produce a piece of legislation about which everybody in this Committee can leave tonight and say “The New Zealand Parliament has done its job and the interests of working New Zealanders are once again proudly at the forefront of doing something progressive and constructive and beneficial” which stands in stark contrast to much other employment legislation that has passed through this House in recent years.I conclude by saying to all members in this Committee who have been part of this very important debate—some would say struggle—that we now have a piece of legislation that is palatable and we can look in the eyes of all New Zealand working people and say: “This is good.”