Fenton Darien: Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Waitaki Easter Trading) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Fenton Darien: Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Waitaki Easter Trading) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 27 June 2012. Volume:681;Page:3472. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DARIEN FENTON (Labour) 
: 
 I think this is probably the sixth or seventh time since I have been in Parliament that I have spoken on an Easter shop trading bill and I think it is probably up to the 10th or 11th time that we have had a member’s bill endeavouring to take away the right of workers not to work on Easter Sunday. In fact this bill also includes Easter Friday. 
I was going to make some comments about my appreciation of the fact that it is members’ day today and that members have a right to bring bills to Parliament and represent the things that they are interested in and their constituents are interested in and want to see. However having heard the last few comments from the previous speaker Jacqui Dean I am not inclined to be so generous. And the disgraceful contributions from the Government on Phil Twyford’s bill I think have made me feel less generous about Jacqui Dean’s bill. 
I am voting against this bill the Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Waitaki Easter Trading) Amendment Bill. I have been very interested to follow the journey of Jacqui Dean’s bill from the time it was first pulled out of the ballot. We had way back on 8 September 2010 a statement headed “Easter Trading Bill Postponed” and saying that she “will do more work on her Easter bill before it goes to Parliament. … I plan to do some work on the area of worker protection. These protections are in existing legislation but they weren’t spelt out in the bill.” Well she has not done any work on that. She has just outlined some bottom lines. She clearly does not understand this issue of choice for workers—to choose whether to work or not. We have canvassed this issue time and again in these debates. An absolute right to refuse to work—an absolute right to refuse to work—when you are on a 90-day trial period you can get the sack for no reason and you do not have the right to challenge it? That is one reason why an absolute right will never work because that Government’s laws already mean that somebody can be sacked for no reason. There are to be no penalties on that worker—well I would hope not. The law does not allow that now. And “reasonable notice” again is meaningless. So the member has not done very much work on the area of worker protection—well no work on the area of worker protection. 
Can I say again that on previous bills before the Commerce Committee this area was canvassed in great detail. There were two members’ bills. I think there was a former member’s bill actually and also Steve Chadwick’s bill. The area was canvassed in great detail and yet at the end of it there was no satisfaction as to being able to say to workers “You will not be forced to work on Easter Sunday.”—as it was then. Now it is Easter Sunday and Easter Friday. 
Then on 5 April 2012 the member said that she was planning to withdraw Good Friday from the bill to make it more acceptable— 
Jacqui Dean 
: Yes. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: Well it is still here though. 
Jacqui Dean 
: No no it’s here. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: Oh you have got a Supplementary Order Paper? 
Jacqui Dean 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. This is probably not in order but just to let you know that I have a Supplementary Order Paper that would delete “Good Friday” from the bill. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: No sorry. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Well it is actually a debatable issue. I call the honourable member Darien Fenton. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: OK I accept that that is there. However obviously there are some concerns from her fellow caucus members about Easter Friday and I suspect there will be the same ones about Easter Sunday. 
But the thing that I found really interesting about the journey of this bill—this is the second time this member has tried to force workers to work on Easter Sunday—was the comment in the  
Southland Times 
 on 10 April 2012: “Moves to liberalise Easter trading rules would not see workers being forced to turn up for work but promoted economic growth she said. ‘The sooner the union accepts that and moves on the better.’ ” What arrogance is that! What arrogance. 
The member raised religious concern and said she has got respect for that—you know she understands people’s Christian views—but then on the other hand she said that people will not be forced to work on Easter Sunday. Well actually they are. In many many workplaces workers are forced to work on a Sunday. I spent years representing Pacific Island workers who were forced to go to work on Sunday—on White Sunday. They had no choice. The member does not understand how workplaces work. She said she respected religious objection. She obviously does not respect worker objection. She does not respect the right of workers to express a view and she tells their union that it should just get over it—just get over it. I think that is incredible arrogance and if for no other reason I would not support the bill because of that comment. I do not think she has canvassed the workers’ views in any way shape or form except to tell them to get over it. That is all that the member has done. Their views are really important in this debate because they are the ones who are going to have to turn up to work. 
Let us remind ourselves that at the moment there are only 3½ days in the whole of the year when shops are closed and workers do not have to turn up to work. Honestly what sort of society have we become when we cannot cope with not shopping for 3½ days a year? The member said that this bill will enable the shops in Wanaka and surrounds to open their businesses and make more money. The member should understand that it does not mean they make more money and it does not mean more money is spent; it is just spent in that area instead of someone else’s area. It does not create more money by opening— 
Jacqui Dean 
: It does. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: It does not. It definitely does not. There is only so much money to go around. In fact there is not much money to go around at the moment at all. Shops can trade as I said on 51 out of 52 Sundays and every public holiday except Good Friday Christmas Day and the morning of Anzac Day. 
Colin King 
: How many days of the year do you get 100000 down in Wanaka? 
DARIEN FENTON 
: Oh that is all that matters. All that matters to the member Colin King is the money—the money. So that Government has become a Government that cares about money over everything else—over Christian views over family values over workers’ rights. And have we not seen that? Are we not seeing it in the policies that are coming through from this Government: tax cuts for the rich and immigration laws that are for people with barrow-loads of money and forget about people who are not that well off? This is another bill that attacks working people. It attacks families and it has a go at the things that we hold dear in this country and at one of the few times that workers get to choose to spend time with their family. I mean unfortunately if this was—[ 
Interruption 
] Colin King should show some more respect thank you—unless he is planning to take a call in which case I will give him heaps back. Unfortunately there is nothing coming from this Government that is going to improve the lives of workers and families. If this bill gets any way through if it unfortunately got through on its 11th try—its 11th try— 
Dr Rajen Prasad 
: Why? 
DARIEN FENTON 
: Why? I cannot believe that there are not more important things that we could be worrying about and that the member could be worrying about. For example did that member know that there is a hotel in Wanaka that has just fired all its workers and employed replacement workers from China? Does that member know about that? Does that member even care about that? Is that not something she should be spending her time worrying about instead of trying to take away 1 or 2 of the 3½ days that people do not have to go to work and instead can spend time with their families? People do not have to shop on those days. They can shop the day before the day in the middle and the day after. For goodness’ sake! 
Maggie Barry 
: What? Do you live in the 1950s in your own mind? Things have changed. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: Listen “Queen Margaret”. Listen “Queen Margaret”—3½ days a year! Do not be so arrogant. Who do you think you are—3½ days a year and you are saying this is back to the 1950s? In the 1950s no one had to work on a Saturday or Sunday. Oh dear oh dear! Are we not seeing it all tonight? Are we not seeing it all from those members? I hope no one votes for this bill. I hope it goes down— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! There are two members who are interjecting on each other who do not have the floor and that is not permitted. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: I urge the House to vote against this bill again as it has very sensibly done in the past. It is a conscience vote. This is a time when members get to have a say according to their conscience. There are a number of reasons which the member has acknowledged that people oppose this bill. They include Christian views they include workers’ rights and they include the very very important issue that we all want to see people spending time with their families. At least one of those reasons must mean something to members like Maggie Barry although maybe she comes from such a privileged background that she does not even understand. Please vote against this bill.