Ardern Shane: Holidays Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Ardern Shane: Holidays Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:614;Page:10527] 
SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 I rise and ask one question of the Minister: do the socialists know any bounds at all? Do they have any boundaries at all or do they just think that business is a bottomless pit for more and more costs and more and more politically correct legislation loaded on it? It is a simple question and I am sure the Minister does not have to have too much knowledge of the detail of the bill to be able to answer that. Do they know any boundaries or do they think that business is just a bottomless pit or do they absolutely dispute the figures put out by Treasury that there would be an extra cost to New Zealand business of $800 million by passing this legislation? That is a simple question. 
Will the Minister also answer the question: how will work-life be enhanced by this legislation? It is totally beyond me how a Government that purports to represent poor lower socio-economic hard workers can think that by introducing an extra week’s leave into the legislation and all the other requirements that are set out in this bill that will somehow or other enhance the lives of those who are in the most vulnerable position when it comes to negotiating their pay rates. 
The next question would be: does the Government believe that further pay rounds in the next 12 months to 2 years up to 2007 will be enhanced by this legislation? Will those people get higher increases or lower pay increases? That is quite a simple question. Will the lower-income workers in the country get a higher or lower pay increase as a result of this legislation? The answer is obvious—they will get a lower pay increase. 
This in effect is a wage freeze. There is no doubt in my mind about that. All small businesses in this country which have this $800 million worth of extra costs now dumped on them will be looking at ways to try to maintain their bottom line. I pause and ask the Government to consider business in New Zealand. Business in New Zealand is a unique structure compared with anywhere else. The average business in this country employs no more than nine people. It is small business by any international comparison. 
Opposition Member 
: It’s five. 
SHANE ARDERN 
: My colleague says it is five. I guess it depends on where one draws the line on what is small business and what is not. But let us say it is between nine and five—it does not make any difference. By comparison with the rest of the world that is significantly lower. The question then is: will this enhance employment opportunities amongst those small businesses? When it comes to work-life balance we already have a situation in small businesses around New Zealand where the bosses or the self-employed people who have taken the risk who have put their capital on the line already are working far too many hours on average. There is no work-life balance. They do that in the sort of hopeful belief that some day they will have a bit of capital behind them and they will succeed despite the fact that statistics show us that overwhelmingly those businesses do not ever end up in that situation. Those people do it because they are self-motivated and want to do something they can feel good about. Often they do it because they enjoy employing people and providing an opportunity for people who would not otherwise have an opportunity. 
Can the Minister answer this question: will their ability to do that be enhanced by this bill or not? Overwhelmingly the answer is “No”. Overwhelmingly those on the other side know it and overwhelmingly that is the reason they are using this as an election bribe—no more than that. That is why it will not be introduced until 2007. Government members know that it will have a detrimental effect on growth in this country. 
I want to talk for a moment about the industry that I belong to myself—the dairy industry. That accounts for 20 percent of this country’s export earnings. We have the largest single manufacturing site of dairy products in the world in Hawera—in the electorate of the honourable member for Whanganui. The former Kiwi site built a new powder plant in the mid-1990s. It cost $120 million.