Turei Metiria: Volunteers Employment Protection Amendment Bill Defence Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
Turei Metiria: Volunteers Employment Protection Amendment Bill Defence Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
[Volume:616;Page:11965] 
METIRIA TUREI (Green) 
: 
 Green MP Keith Locke was on the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee which considered this bill and was pleased at the cooperative cross-party way in which the bill was developed to its present point. Unfortunately he cannot be here this evening and I am giving this speech on his behalf. 
The Greens support this bill which enables territorials to take part in such useful operations as our peacekeeping operation in East Timor which of course the Green Party has been very supportive of. A large part of our East Timor contingent consisted of territorials and Keith Locke had talked to a large number of people who took part in that operation. These were people who knew they would probably not have a job waiting for them when they returned to New Zealand. Of course that is not a good situation. It is perhaps analogous to the right of women to take time off to have children with a guaranteed return to employment afterwards. So it should be the same for New Zealanders who go on the extremely important business of protecting peace in places like East Timor. 
We are very pleased that the provisions of this bill are aligned to those in the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act. It is good to see that the National Party in promoting this bill is not letting the market rule on this occasion and that it supports the justifiable obligations being placed on employers in this regard. The structures to be established to educate employers and obtain their commitment to this such as the Territorial Forces Employer Support Council are also important to ensure that the purpose of this bill is met. 
The provision of appropriate compensation to employers for demonstrable loss through cooperation with the scheme is also very important. Self-employed people are in some difficulty however in terms of whether they are covered for compensation although if they have a company of some sort in their name they would be eligible for compensation. It is important however that our small businesses are not unduly burdened compared with larger employers. There is discretion by the Government as to which service qualifies for the provisions of this bill and we would expect that important large operations like that in East Timor would qualify. 
The Council of Trade Unions sought in the select committee that the period for which a person must have been employed in order to be eligible for protection be reduced from 12 months to 6 months. Given the fluidity and frankly insecurity of the job market 12 months is too long to expect people to be employed before they are eligible and we are concerned that too many people will be left out of this scheme. We were advised by the Government however not to accept the amendment put forward by the Council of Trade Unions. 
Since the report back to Parliament the Government has announced that it is reviewing the provisions of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act and intends to reduce the qualifying period in that Act to 6 months previous employment. In light of this newly announced Government intention Keith Locke had intended to move an amendment in the Committee stage of this bill to reduce the qualifying period to 6 months also so that it was consistent with the planned parental leave provisions. However we are now assured by the Government that when legislation is brought in to reduce the qualifying period for parental leave to 6 months that legislation will have a consequential amendment reducing the qualifying period in the Volunteers Employment Protection Act to 6 months also. We accept that assurance. The Green Party supports the third reading of this bill.