Baillie ChrisCHRIS BAILLIE (ACT): Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise on behalf of ACT in opposition to the Screen Industry Workers Bill a bill about the relationship between employers and employees. I'd like to start by thanking those businesses and employers who funded New Zealand's Queen Elizabeth II memorial holiday. I'm sure all employees were grateful to their employer for paying for this holiday and will work extra hard to make up the shortfall in funds. The painting and plastering business with 50 employees cost between $18000 and $20000 for the day. The sawmill owner with 16 staff: cost them $3500.Marja Lubeck: Back to the bill. Come on.CHRIS BAILLIE: It's coming up. The CEO of a large security company: costs them $140000 for one day. And the hospitality owner with 32 staff up to the eyeballs in debt after the one-in-100-year pandemic which is continually used as an excuse by the Government: having to find an extra $4500. I thank those people and I hope everyone enjoyed having the day off in memorial. The bill has been well traversed and although I wasn't there for the select committee process it just seems to me that it is unnecessary. The Film Industry Working Group has suggested four principles apply to all screen production work and they seem to make sense. Parties must act in good faith in their dealings with each other. Contractors doing screen production work must be protected from bullying harassment of any kind and discrimination. People who engage contractors must act fairly and reasonably when terminating contracts and contractors doing screen production work must receive a fair rate of pay in relation to their skills and the scale of the production. It makes you wonder if the Government has ever seen employment contracts. Here's a contract for a delivery driver: 12 pages—12 pages. In those 12 pages it covers remuneration it covers termination it covers employee protection it covers work safety it covers employment relation problems and everything must be dealt with in good faith. A 13-page contract for the hospitality industry covers all of those things as well. They have to take them away for a week consult with people discuss it take it to a lawyer if they want and then they sign it. To say that those protections are not already in place is just misinformation. But the only difference is that this Government doesn't think individuals are capable of making their own decisions and only the Government or unions can work out the pay and conditions in an employer-employee relationship. It believes that those people who want to work hard and get ahead don't want the interference of Government especially unions. Actually we know it because we run businesses and we deal with workers every day. They don't want it. Times have changed and workers are more capable than ever of being masters of their own destiny. They don't need to be patronised and treated like fools. A few weeks ago during a debate the Greens' Jan Logie said that they'd like to go back to the 1970s when the unions were strong. Shops weren't open on the weekends. Pubs shut at 10 o'clock. Maybe we should go back to 6 o'clock closing because that worked really well—such fantastic times. But as is typical of the ideology of the left they still want the benefits that workers have gained since those times: four weeks' annual leave not two; two weeks' sick leave not none; 12 days of statutory holidays or 13 in some years; and the numerous other leave provisions that business owners have to pay for. It is unfortunate we have a Government of such division convincing employees that they are continually being treated terribly and all employers are rich and just want to get out as much as they can—just so far from the actual reality. The disconnect between the Government and the union affiliates with the real world is open and on display every day like Andrew Little saying sick leave won't hurt businesses a bit—$2 billion; the Council of Trade Unions president stating it's only one day for the Queen's holiday—costing businesses $450 million; and the Public Service Association saying that they don't believe in performance pay. You need to digest that. What they're saying is they don't believe that if you work hard you should be paid more. When I tell workers that they really don't believe me. They're sick of people telling them how to—these are the people who are telling the Government how to run businesses.This bill is another example of the ideology of a Government devoid of business experience. It will affect the screen industry in New Zealand. It's just becoming too hard to do business in this beautiful country. ACT believes most employers are good people who just want to run a profitable productive business whether that's in the film industry or whatever and we believe that most employees or contractors just want to work hard and get ahead. We believe the best way to do that is for the Government to leave them alone and treat them like adults. It has worked for the last 30 years. ACT cannot support this bill. Thank you.