Brown Peter: Employment Relations (Flexible Working Hours) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Brown Peter: Employment Relations (Flexible Working Hours) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:624;Page:19674] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 Let me say from the word go that we agree with much of what the last speaker said and of what the Hon Mark Gosche said earlier. We believe that parents should spend more time with their children. But we have looked at this bill inside out and not one person has made any representation to us on the matter it deals with at all. 
Simon Power 
: Not one? 
PETER BROWN 
: Not one. 
Simon Power 
: It’s a non-problem. 
PETER BROWN 
: It is a non-problem. I say to those members over there—and I respect their sincerity—that this is a nation of small employers and that those employers have families and need a bit of consideration in industrial relations areas. This bill would impose on them quite some added responsibilities. I have quite a few friends who are employers and I do not know of one of them being totally inflexible when it comes to the concerns or the welfare of their staff. 
Dr Wayne Mapp 
: That’s the reality. 
PETER BROWN 
: That is the reality as my colleague said. Voluntary flexibility is far better than imposed flexibility. The explanatory note of the bill states—and this scares me witless: “Parents will be given two weeks to appeal in writing against the decision”—that is a decision that goes against them—“and set out the reasons for the appeal. Where cases cannot be resolved in the workplace binding mediation and arbitration will be available and the opportunity for an employee to take a case to the Employment Tribunal.” That will impose a lot of restrictions and costs on small employers. 
Sue Kedgley 
: It happened in the UK. 
PETER BROWN 
: People from the UK have come to me as their first port of call because I have been out here for 40 years and they see me as having made a success of my life in New Zealand. They tell me: “You wouldn’t want to go back there now Peter. You would not survive.” That is what they are telling me. I suggest that the member talk to a few people and ask them why they have come here from the UK. She should not quote the UK to me as the be-all and end-all of everything. 
This bill makes the assumption that a significant number of employers are inflexible and uncaring and just want to impose their will on their staff no matter what. That is not true in New Zealand. One of the attractions of this country is that employers here work in to a very large degree with their staff. This country is a classless society compared with the UK. That is the difference in the UK which Sue Kedgley talks about. The UK might need a little bit of legislation—I do not know and I will not comment on it. But my experience of this country—and it is a long experience—is that employers here are very very mindful of the needs of their staff and the needs of the families of their staff. I hear very very regularly things that impress me about New Zealand and New Zealand’s attitude to families. I have to say that the Hon Mark Gosche was wrong on one point. 
Hon Mark Gosche 
: Just one! 
PETER BROWN 
: He is wrong on one point. From time to time I go to watch youngsters play soccer. I know this will amaze the member but I am now on the sideline as a grandad not a father. I know that the member will find that hard to believe. But I can tell him that hundreds of parents are out there on the sidelines—and I have to get in a little plug for soccer because it is the biggest sport in this country in terms of youngsters participating. 
Hon Mark Gosche 
: I hope it’s not Newcastle United. 
PETER BROWN 
: I hope it is not Newcastle United too. I think the less we say about that the better. All I am saying is that parents are still taking a keen interest in their children’s activities. I believe that there is plenty of scope in this country for parents to go to their employers and say they want to change their working hours a little. I can tell members that if we pass this bill then there will be employers who are forced into saying that a person is not employable because he or she does not fit in with the working hours. There will be discrimination. 
Debate interrupted.