Beaumont Carol: Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBeaumont Carol: Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 17 April 2013. Volume:689;Page:9476. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CAROL BEAUMONT (Labour): It is a real pleasure to rise and speak on a positive and necessary bill that will pass here today. We have had far too many negative bills in this House and we have had far too many pieces of legislation that are not in fact necessary but are really about dog whistle politics like bashing beneficiaries. But anyway I rise to speak on the Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill. I want to acknowledge of course Dr David Clark and Grant Robertson and also the Labour members of the select committee who worked hard on this as others have said—Darien Fenton the senior member on the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee and my colleague and friend here Andrew Little—all of whom have contributed I think important points to this debate.This bill came about as a result of a real problem. Something in Parliament that we are meant to be aware of is identifying things that need changing and addressing the need for change. This was a real problem. Many people felt that in 2011 they had had fewer holidays than they were entitled to and in fact that was true. They had had 9 public holidays rather than the 11 that they had expected.The purpose of the bill is quite clear and it is not all of the things that the National MPs have been trying to say it is. They have been trying to run a line that somehow this is going to undermine important days of national significance for us. I do not think they have been successful and I am sure that those listening to and watching the House have not been convinced by their arguments but I will come back to that. What this bill is actually about is addressing an issue that arises only in those years when Waitangi Dayand Anzac Day fall on a weekend. It will amend the Holidays Act to provide for the transfer of the public holidays for Waitangi Day and Anzac Day if they fall on a weekend.The celebration of those very critically important days which are fundamental to our national identity will still be in the case of Waitangi Day 6 February and in the case of Anzac Day 25 April but there will also be a public holiday on the Monday that follows in those years when Waitangi Day or Anzac Day fall on a weekend. That is what it is really about. It is not about disrespecting those important days. Nobody here is of that mind and that is not what the bill does. It will ensure that certainly most New Zealanders—full-time paid employees—will get 11 public holidays every year rather than in only 5 out of every 7 years.This change as others have said is well supported. It is well supported by the public it is well supported by employees and it is well supported by a number of employers—particularly as others have said in the tourism industry. But also one of the few pieces of quantitative research done on this has shown that 87 percent of over 1000 small and medium enterprises that were surveyed actually supported it or were neutral on the question. So the argument that employers do not support this bill is nonsensical and it makes sense really because those employers also have families that they want to spend time with.Most New Zealanders and I would imagine every member of this House recognise that holidays are important. Why are holidays important? Well let me spell it out. Holidays are an opportunity for rest and recreation. Holidays help people balance paid working time with time off to spend with family and friends. Let us recognise that in the case of Anzac Day those who fought for our country fought for our values and that includes the importance of family and mateship. We all know that those were critically important to those Anzacs. So holidays are important and they have become arguably more important as paid work has become more demanding for many. There are longer hours flexibility that makes it harder to balance work and life and fewer people in workplaces which is intensifying work.I want to acknowledge also given that we are talking about paid work the many many New Zealanders who are without paid work at the moment—who are unemployed. I want to note again the Government’s failure to focus on jobs while it is at the same time taking a punitive approach to beneficiaries. We have very high unemployment—we have jobless growth at the moment—but on a rare occasion we are in this House celebrating something positive for those in paid employment and I commend this bill to the House.