Key John: Holidays Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Key John: Holidays Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:620;Page:16032] 
JOHN KEY (National—Helensville) 
: 
 This Committee knows that the Act was introduced on April Fool’s Day by the then Minister of Labour Margaret Wilson. It does not take many examples to work out why it was introduced on April Fool’s Day. This bill gives people time and a half— 
Government Member 
: One plus one equals three. 
JOHN KEY 
: Yes one plus two equals three. If Michael Cullen cannot work that out he is not as bright as I think he is but I digress. This bill gives people—salaried employees—time and a half and a day in lieu. Let us just imagine the situation for a moment—Theresa Gattung is sitting in front of the TV watching something on Easter Monday and she gets a phone call to go to the office to do a couple of hours of urgent work. She will get $15000 for that—that is time and a half and a day in lieu for popping in on Easter Monday. That is not bad. 
I can see why Margaret Wilson got the boot when this bill was introduced. In less than 6 months we are now in a tremendously embarrassing situation where the new Minister of Labour has had to come to the Chamber and pretend he is fixing it up. This is the same Minister about whom it was said in regard to the next bill coming up: “Don’t worry business community Swainey and the boys will sort it out.” That came from the Minister who said: “If George Hawkins is out of here I’m out of here as well and so is Clayton Cosgrove.” to which the Prime Minister said “Clayton who?” but that is another issue completely. 
I sat on the select committee—[ 
Interruption 
] I tell Mr Hughes that that is the absolute truth. If I am in better touch with the political situation than the Labour Party then so be it. I sat on the select committee with the Hon Judith Tizard and listened to employers who came in. 
Dr Wayne Mapp 
: Was she swearing? 
JOHN KEY 
: No she was not swearing; she was very polite. 
Dr Wayne Mapp 
: Was she awake? 
JOHN KEY 
: She was awake but she was polite. Anyway I will not say any more. I have got myself into a lot of trouble recently and I need to understand that. Employer after employer came to the select committee and said that they had spent years defining ordinary pay. They had reached the situation where they now understood what ordinary pay is and by defining relevant daily pay we would be forcing them to go back to all of their contracts and now they would have to go back to a much more convoluted process where they would now have to de-engineer and that has not happened. What has happened is that Paul Swain who has been put up as the Trojan Horse for some sort of sensibility reality or—[ 
Interruption 
] In theory he has done that but in fact he has not fixed the problem at all. What he has done has fixed the—[ 
Interruption 
] No he has not. He has fixed the incredibly embarrassing situation where people were taking a day off on a public holiday and getting time and a half and watching television or going to the races. He has not fixed the problem of Theresa Gattung being paid $15000 and having a day off. He has not fixed the problem that thousands of New Zealand employers—[ 
Interruption 
] I think it is great that Theresa Gattung gets $2.5 million but it is mad that a salaried employee would get paid time and a half and a day in lieu. If that is the Minister’s intention I would welcome him taking a call. Was that the intention? Did he intend that Theresa Gattung be paid $15000 and get a day in lieu for popping into the office? Was that what “Swainey and the boys” will fix? Was that what it was all about? Is that what John Tamihere was thinking? Is that the fix-up of the muck-up? It is not. 
When I sat on the select committee employer after employer came in. They came from the restaurant industry and what they said to us was very clear indeed. They said they could not afford to operate under those conditions. Under the margins they had they could not afford to provide services and when visitors came to New Zealand on our airline—the pride of the Pacific—and wanted something to eat the only thing that would be open would be Paul Swain’s house cooking up some food. That would be the only place they would get a meal because no restaurant will be able to afford to pay waitresses as much as that. Restaurants will not be able to afford the margins. They begged us— 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Let them eat cake. 
JOHN KEY 
: That is right.