SpeechGLEN BENNETT (Labour—New Plymouth): Kia ora Mr Speaker. Thank you for your time this evening. It's a pleasure to stand and as has already been said just to congratulate Chris Baillie on his member's bill being drawn from the ballot. And then I guess thank you: I appreciate the sympathy that you have made for me in your speech. I was one of the 51 who took my oath on the Bible. And I don't come into this House as someone who—I believe that my faith is my engine but it's not something that I expect everyone or anyone to adhere to what I believe and I have respect for that.In this situation I guess it's just reflecting on not necessarily what those days mean because I think they're actually—I'd say they're far less than a religious holiday; they're actually part of our cultural make up in Aotearoa. For example Easter Sunday it really isn't empty tombs; it's Easter eggs and chocolate. Christmas day isn't about—Marja Lubeck: Turkey.GLEN BENNETT: Yeah it's about turkey and big roasts in 30-degree heat by the beach—it's ridiculous—as opposed to celebrating the birth of Christ but I digress.What was said earlier was that there are silly rules and I get there are lots of silly rules and my household has a lot of them too. But as you get around the country and you look at different councils and jurisdictions there are lots of differing rules and that's just how it operates.For example there are licensing trusts that still exist in New Zealand. If you go to west Auckland it's different than if you go to South Auckland. For example if you go to New Plymouth where I'm the MP for the hours of trade for liquor are different to if you go to central Wellington here. So there are differences but I also think the mention of people being confused or it being infuriating for people—I think people just get it that things are different. In fact in the last few years if anything people have become so much more flexible in terms of how life operates.So it's been said for me it's very much about the ability to have some time off as opposed to thinking about the actual liquor licensing or the trading days. And I look back to when I was a kid when I remember Thursday night was late night shopping to go to 3 Guys in Mount Roskill in Auckland because shops were open until 7.30. It was quite exciting to go to 3 Guys on a Thursday night with mum and dad and get the groceries—so exciting! But the cool thing actually was that at the weekend there was no one in the supermarkets and there were always a few trolleys left lying around which we got to enjoy. I was the youngest of three and for some reason I always ended up in the trolley. I was always the idiot that ended up in the trolley being pushed down the ramp and then realising my fate and having to try to save myself. But obviously I survived—not too many head injuries. Don't be the judge of that please! But this piece of legislation—and actually I guess looking back on it as Marja Lubeck said before me it's been around for a long time. And I know for the ACT Party it's been something that they've worked on for a long time. In fact it was 20 years ago in 2002 Rodney Hide yet again had pushed around opening up trading on public holidays on Christmas and Easter. I actually remember back at that time him talking about going to—I think he said Singapore or somewhere and everything was open on Christmas Day and we're such a backward country nothing's open. But I think that's part of the charm. And when I actually moved to New Plymouth in the year 2000 I was initially shocked actually because New Plymouth was pretty much shut down on Sundays not for any religious reasons but I think because workers and families could get together and could actually have time together which was a surprise to me. But then I realised the charm and beauty of it that families and people didn't have the expectation of working.And my concern with this piece of legislation is that there will be expectation for people to work. Like my previous two colleagues have said there's 3½ days left in the calendar; let's keep it like that. Mr Speaker I appreciate you listening to me this evening. Kia ora.