Prebble Richard: Minimum Wage Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Prebble Richard: Minimum Wage Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:608;Page:5145] 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE (Leader—ACT NZ) 
: 
 I rise to support Mr Ryall’s amendment. I think it is an excellent amendment although I do have a quibble with it which I will raise with Mr Ryall in a moment. 
I also want to express my disappointment—but not surprise—that the New Zealand First Party continues to be economically illiterate. The fact of the matter is that by supporting the paying of minimum wages to trainees that party will limit the number of people who can get training. 
Jim Peters 
: Rubbish! 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: The member says “Rubbish!”— 
Mark Peck 
: I agree. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: —and so does Mr Peck yet they are supporting a bill that states that. If they cared to read the explanatory note of the bill which I ask Mr Peck whether he has read— 
Mark Peck 
: You bet! 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: He says that he has read it. Does he not agree with the explanatory notes of the bills of the Government that he belongs to? 
Mark Peck 
: I agree with everything in the bill. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: There was an incoherent answer to that question but let me draw to the member’s attention that on page 3 the explanatory note states: “The proposed change may have a small adverse impact on the Government’s fiscal position. The fiscal impact would come from increased benefit payments that may occur as a result of potential job losses over time.” That is there in the Government’s own legislation. One could bet that Ministers hated every word of that; that is how far they could get it watered down. I guarantee that if we could see the first draft it would be much harder— 
Shane Ardern 
: Much harder. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: Those former ministers know what I am saying. But the Ministers could not get the officials to take that comment out because the officials know that this bill will cost jobs. I say it is a great shame that New Zealand First and the Labour Party back bench are economically illiterate. 
I have a comment and a quibble to make to Mr Ryall who wants to move the commencement date from November 2003 to November 2005. My quibble is twofold. First 2005 is far too soon. But Mr Ryall then says that November 2005 will be after the election of a National Government. The second part of my quibble then is why is he so pessimistic? This is a minority Labour Government. It cannot even handle the power crisis and it has the economy going down the gurgler. I am coming to the commencement date; it is a question of whether that date could be safely made November 2004. This is a minority Government. It is supported by the Greens but at some point they will take a stand over genetic modification and it is also supported by the United Future party but at some point the members of that party will look at the polls and say that they are going down the gurgler with that lot. 
 No MMP Government has lasted for the whole full term. New Zealand First will not save the Government. The member could take a risk and make the commencement date November 2004. I think the Government will last about another year. But when we have a second winter power crisis and people realise that the Government says we have market prices but that the Government actually owns 70 percent of the generators—we do not have enough generators—and owns all of the grid and that this is a Government crisis we could see this Government fall. 
I say while ACT will vote for the National Party’s amendment it is a bit on the pessimistic side. The National Party should be a bit more optimistic. We should be getting ready for the possibility of an early election. I see signs of this Government falling. One of the reasons for that is this bill itself. The reason the Government will fall is that it is economically illiterate. This Government has no idea whether it has done well economically. It has benefited from things it had no control of and now that the economy is going sour on it the Government has no idea what to do about that. If it has then let us hear one idea in terms of what it will do about the power crisis. We have not heard one idea. We heard the Government say on the  
Holmes 
 show that we should wait for some weeks for it to give us an answer. 
John Key 
: They’re in the dark. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: Yes the Government is in the dark. The Government itself acknowledges that by passing this bill it will deprive young people of training. November of this year is far too soon to introduce such a harsh measure and November 2005 is still too soon. We will support the amendment.