Blue Jackie: Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Blue Jackie: Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
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Dr JACKIE BLUE (National) 
: 
 I am pleased to speak to the Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill in the third reading debate. This is a very simple bill. It is not about weakening employment law; it is about clarifying employment law. It amends an area for clarity. 
The bill basically looks at the status of employees and contractors: employees are employees and contractors are contractors. In particular a person employed as a contractor cannot later be considered to be an employee. It is as simple as that. There is nothing more than that. It is clarification and it gives certainty. It gives confidence to the film sector which is worth almost $3 billion to our economy. It will also ensure that thousands of jobs are secured. 
The two  
Hobbit  
movies are worth $670 million to our economy; that is certainly significant. Yes movies have in the past been produced in New Zealand but we have never had the situation before where there have been threatened strikes and boycotts. This naturally caused a lot of nervousness for the film sector and for those wanting to invest in film in New Zealand. Confidence was eroded and as Wayne Mapp pointed out the trust that had previously been there was totally destroyed. 
There are no guarantees in life and certainly if I were a part of Warner Bros and I were going to invest a lot of money—these are two big-ticket items it is putting money into—I would want to minimise risk. I think the concessions made were very reasonable because we know that our economy will be boosted tourism will be boosted confidence is back and thousands of jobs will be assured. I agree with my colleague Hilary Calvert from the ACT Party. She said that we can push businesses so far and then they will go somewhere else. It is as simple as that—it is as simple as that. 
If the Australian unions had not waded in we would not be in this situation and we would not be discussing this bill. But they did wade in and they raised the issue of this uncertainty with the law. So the Government has quite correctly responded. We should probably thank the Australian unions for making a point of the clarification that was needed. 
This bill is all about free choice. Goodness me one would think from listening to the other side that we were basically coercing people and that they were being bullied into signing up as employees when they wanted to be contractors and vice versa. It is not taking away workers’ rights; it is clarifying a simple piece of employment law. It is about free choice. It is voluntary. People can sign up how they want to when they want to work on a film. 
This Government is determined to use the opportunity of the  
Hobbit  
movies to present and market New Zealand in the best way and we will see tourism and our economy grow as a consequence. It will return confidence to the sector. 
The  
Hobbit  
movies will not be the last movies. There is talk in the  
Dominion Post 
 about the  
Avatar  
sequels coming to New Zealand. That will be fantastic. This Government is determined to grow the economy despite what the Opposition says. It will promote tourism and bolster the film sector. The Prime Minister quite frankly saved the day and I am grateful to him. I commend this bill to the House.