Fenton Darien: Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Fenton Darien: Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 27 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:9013. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DARIEN FENTON (Labour) 
: 
 I am pleased to support the Committee stage of the Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill. I wanted to start by saying a couple of things—first of all to the chair of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee David Bennett who talked at length about disappointment. Actually I think if anyone deserves sympathy when it comes to disappointment it is that member who has been in this House for several years now and must be feeling very disappointed about the way his Government is treating him. In fact we say “David Bennett for Minister”. And we would vote for you David if we had the chance. And then to Mr Chris Auchinvole who also talked about disappointment I have got two words to say to that member the two words being “habeas corpus”. If we have ever had so significant a member’s bill passed in this House it was today with the Habeas Corpus Amendment Bill as we heard earlier. 
I wanted to point out to the members opposite that on Anzac Day and Waitangi Day every year apart from every 5 years there is actually a holiday. It is a public holiday. So what happens is that people get the day off. Some of them—many of them these days—go off to the Anzac Day ceremonies in the morning the commemorations first thing in the morning. Some people on Waitangi Day go off to celebrate Waitangi Day. Some people do not but it is a holiday. So this idea that somehow because this bill gives people a holiday once every 5 or 7 years it is cheapening those days is quite frankly ridiculous. 
I also wanted to respond to the member Simon O’Connor who spent his 10 minutes— 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Who? 
DARIEN FENTON 
: —Simon O’Connor—in the second reading of this bill reading out the diary of a Gallipoli soldier who did not come home. I have to say Mr O’Connor that I found that incredibly offensive. I thought it was using the deaths of working-class men like my grandfather who went to the war. I say to Mr O’Connor to have a look above the next time he comes out of the National Party caucus room at the shield for the Peter Fraser Government and he will see a photo of my grandfather who fought in the First World War who came home and who joined the Labour Party—who joined the Labour Party—to fight for justice for working people. I know he would not begrudge the provisions in this bill. He would not. I thought it really cheapened the memory of the people in my family and the people in everyone’s families to have done that. I thought that was disgraceful. 
The other thing that has been very interesting in this debate is that the Government seems to have forgotten its own legislation. In 2010 it passed legislation that would enable public holidays to be transferred to another day including Waitangi Day and Anzac Day—including those precious days. But in 2010 the Government did not think they were precious enough to stop them from being transferred. In fact in its legislation introducing the Holidays Amendment Bill to the House the bill talked about it. An example it gave in the explanatory note said: “For example if Waitangi Day falls on a Wednesday an employer and a group of employees who work Monday to Friday may agree to observe Waitangi Day on the Friday.” So what happened to the preciousness of Waitangi Day? Another example used in the bill was Anzac Day. This Government cannot have it both ways. It cannot stand up in this Chamber and say this is all about disrespecting the memory of Gallipoli and the people who have gone before us who fought for freedom and democracy and at the same time forget that it has passed legislation that actually undermines the recognition of those important days and in fact makes it more difficult for many workers to actually have the day off on pay. 
I just want to finish if I may with a very interesting quote that we heard in Parliament today. This comes from our Prime Minister: “Mondayisation I know I don’t agree with that. I mean I think in the end this is an issue which you know fair enough I don’t think you know our—we’re opposed but we’re not vehemently opposed.” That was the Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key who cannot make up his mind who instructed the chair of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee to oppose it. And that is why those members have because they have no basis for that.