Pillay Lynne: General Debate 
Pillay Lynne: General Debate 
[Volume:642;Page:12448] 
LYNNE PILLAY (Labour—Waitakere) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to stand in this House and acknowledge that there is a celebration going on at the moment in the union movement—20 years of the Council of Trade Unions and 70 years of the Federation of Labour. My gosh what a pleasure it was to go to that celebration and to meet with the talented committed people who are proud to have advocated for workers in New Zealand. It was a pleasure to be invited and to see other parties represented there. But was the National Party there? No it was not. And I ask why not when the National Party has been advocating so strongly for unions such as the Post Primary Teachers Association around the Electoral Finance Bill? National members have said: “We’re acting for unions. This bill is not in their interests.” So why when they had that strong advocacy were they not invited to celebrate with the unions? It is because every single one of those workers and unions know that every single one of the National Party’s policies is designed to deal to workers and families in New Zealand. 
The Justice and Electoral Committee meets tomorrow. I suggest that Chris Finlayson listens carefully to the hearing because he picks up nothing from the select committee and has to get all his information through questions in this House. But the majority of that select committee and my good friend Charles Chauvel who is sitting beside me are working hard to ensure that the Electoral Finance Bill ensures that all organisations can advocate lobby and have their say but—and I mean but—avoid the rorts of the friends of the National Party the big money friends like the Exclusive Brethren. This party and indeed most of the parties in this Parliament do not want to see a political system where those with the biggest wallets have the biggest voices. 
Jill Pettis 
: And cults. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: That is right. I also find it really offensive that the National Party is going on about human rights when it is on record that every single member of that party voted against the New Zealand Bill of Rights legislation. They voted against it. 
To go back to the union celebration I say that despite the National Party’s attempts to destroy the union movement this was a time to celebrate all the things that the movement has campaigned for right through the gloomy 1990s on behalf of working people and Kiwi families. Many positives have been achieved: paid parental leave early childhood education apprenticeships interest-free loans for students tax credits for Kiwi families—and the previous speaker Chris Tremain spoke of there being no tax relief—4 weeks’ leave health and safety laws public holiday payments getting rid of that ghastly ghastly Employment Contracts Act KiwiSaver and cheaper doctors’ fees. 
We are really proud of our policy on cheaper doctors’ fees. What did we do? This Government put a bucket of money into primary health into subsidising health visits to doctors and it has worked; people are healthier. Why are they healthier and why are our children healthier? It is because we see that if we put that money into subsidising doctors’ visits then our children will be healthier our families will be healthier and our older citizens will be healthier because they can afford to go to the doctor and have very cheap prescriptions. What—after hearing nothing about what the National Party would do? 
David Cunliffe spoke about the honeymoon period of all care and no responsibility with not a policy to be seen but just a bit of rhetoric about how much National likes people. But what did the Nats say? Whoops! They said they would remove the cap on doctors’ fees. What does that mean? It means they will let the market decide. All the improvements that I spoke about before and all that has been campaigned for by workers and families and organisations in this country—every single one of them—was opposed by those people over on the other side of the Chamber. Why was it opposed? Because they will let the market decide. They say that the market will work it out. We know in this Labour-led Government that we cannot rely on the market to sort out things for people in this country whether for families for older people or for our businesses. We are proud to be a Government that supports all those people.