Moroney Sue: Minimum Wage (Starting-out Wage) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Moroney Sue: Minimum Wage (Starting-out Wage) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 14 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8594. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
SUE MORONEY (Labour) 
: 
 I would like to say that I normally start off my speeches by saying it is a pleasure to rise and speak but quite frankly I am getting tired of rising and speaking to these bills that have absolutely no vision for a better and brighter future for this country. 
When Simon Bridges was promoted recently in Cabinet I think the media thought: “Look here’s a bright new guy he might have some new ideas. He’s fresh he’s got a bit of energy.” Well sadly here he is bringing back the same old tired rubbish to this House that National has been trotting out for decade after decade after decade. There is no shiny bushy energetic new thinking from that side just the tired old wage-cutting regime that National members have rolled out for decades now. So they have not learnt a thing. Once they used to be ambitious for New Zealand. Do people remember that? We have not heard it for a while but when they were in Opposition John Key claimed that he was ambitious for New Zealand. I notice that as soon as he got into Government he stopped saying that. Here is the reason why. They absolutely lack ambition for New Zealanders and this bill the Minimum Wage (Starting-out Wage) Amendment Bill proves exactly that point. It is not about creating jobs; it is all about lowering wages. 
I listened to a very good speech from my colleague Andrew Little earlier where he outlined exactly why of course it does not create jobs. Work creates jobs not lowering wages. Having work to do creates jobs. That is what employers employ people for. They are not benevolent societies and charitable organisations that employ people because they just want to help them out. They do it because there is work there to be done. The real tragedy of this piece of legislation is that in fact this will ensure that there is less work—fewer jobs in our economy. 
When that Government lowers wages it will reduce the amount of spending power that New Zealanders have—in this case those aged 16 to 19 years of age. But if anyone listening to this debate thinks it stops here think again. They are coming after you next. They are coming after other New Zealanders after they have lowered the wages of 16 to 19-year-olds because this is the only thing a National Government knows how to do. The only answer it has to any economic circumstances whether they be good bad or ugly is to reduce wages. That has always been its only answer. When wages are reduced in New Zealand that reduces spending in our economy. When spending reduces in our economy guess what? More jobs go. Jobs are lost through ill thought through pieces of legislation like this. They certainly are not created. 
Hon Simon Bridges 
: This is real Labour Party 1990. 
SUE MORONEY 
: He is showing a bit of energy now that Simon Bridges but why did he not show a bit of energy when he was drafting this legislation? Why did he not stand up to his tired old party and tell them that this is the pathway to a downwards economic cycle not an upwards economic cycle at all? All it does is introduce more exploitation and more discrimination into our workplaces and that is something we definitely do not need. 
I would like to invite Simon Bridges to have a look at the coverage from  
Campbell Live 
 the other night of the hundreds of people lining up for seven jobs. They were stores jobs and not very highly paid ones. They were pretty ordinary stores jobs but a job none the less. His piece of legislation is inviting that employer to actually exploit people to actually say to most of the people in that queue: “Actually don’t even bother lining up because I’m not going to employ you. You are a bit dearer than the other people.” That is not going to actually fix the deep problems that we are experiencing with the New Zealand economy. It is no wonder that the economy is going nowhere under this Government that it is flatlining because this piece of legislation is just another hopeless piece of legislation that does nothing to lift economic performance. In fact it does quite the opposite.