Ross Jami-Lee: Minimum Wage Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ross Jami-Lee: Minimum Wage Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 29 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:4934. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JAMI-LEE ROSS (National—Botany) 
: 
 In my last speech in this House I found myself in agreement with 95 percent of the Labour Party on a Labour bill the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill. I hope our friends on the other side are not expecting too much of that from me. We are about to return to business as usual. I cannot find myself supporting this bill from the Labour Party the Minimum Wage Amendment Bill for many of the reasons that my colleague David Bennett outlined and that I would like to outline tonight as well. 
When Labour was in Government it was doing the right thing on the minimum wage. Trevor Mallard I understand it was actually ended up rejecting a $15 minimum wage. Labour’s policy along the way has always been to increase the minimum wage only at a rate to maintain its purchasing power. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Was that during the good years they rejected that? 
JAMI-LEE ROSS 
: During the good years. Now that we are in a lot of strife we are struggling and we have had the global financial crisis— 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Who was that who rejected that? 
JAMI-LEE ROSS 
: Trevor Mallard I am told. Trevor Mallard actually opposed a $15 minimum wage because Labour knew that if you were to automatically bump up the minimum wage to a higher level to $15 an hour without doing it gradually you would actually create greater unemployment. 
We hear quite often from members on the other side that they believe that unemployment is far too high and yes we would probably agree that unemployment is too high. We have got plans and we have got policies that are leading to more jobs being created but I have to say that if you are of the belief that unemployment is too high the last thing you would be doing is implementing a policy that would immediately price 5500 workers out of the job market. That is exactly what would happen. By increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour in one fell swoop 5500 people we are told would end up on the unemployment heap. I do not believe that that is appropriate and I do not believe that what New Zealanders would want to see is 5500 people being put on to the unemployment heap and being told that they are not able to work because they have been priced out of the workforce by this Parliament. 
We have got a very proud record on the minimum wage and we are happy to share it. Under National workers on the minimum wage are actually better off than they were under the last Government. If you take into account inflation the after-tax income of someone on the minimum wage is 8 percent ahead of where it was 4 years ago under Labour. This works out to be more than $1800 a year extra in the back pockets of the lowest-paid worker. [ 
Interruption 
] I can go louder. I can go louder too if you like. 
New Zealand’s minimum wage is actually near the top of the OECD relative to the average wage. If members on the other side of the House really do care about jobs then they would actually be supporting a policy that we have got coming up very soon that would actually help more people get into work. 
Sue Moroney 
: What is it? 
JAMI-LEE ROSS 
: It is the starting out wage for young workers. We know that we have to provide opportunities for employers to take on people. The starting out wage for younger workers is in opposition to what we are talking about tonight but that would actually lead to more people working and actually more people getting into the workforce which is the most important issue. Getting people into the workforce is the most important issue. Pricing people out of the workforce is the last thing you should be doing. Members on the other side want to price people out of the workforce. We want to get more people into the workforce. 
One of the policies that we have had that enabled more people to get into the workforce was our 90-day trials. Did we get support from the other side? Did we get support from the other side? No we did not. But we do know that 13000 extra jobs were created under that policy. Here we are with a policy that we have just implemented which allowed 13000 people to get jobs and which allowed employers to take a risk on some people. Forty percent of employers told us that if it was not for the trial period they would not have hired someone. The 13000 jobs that were created there and the jobs that will be created for younger workers with the starting out wage—that is what we believe in. Our opponents on the other side want to price people out of the workforce. 
We believe in enabling people and giving people the best opportunity to get into the workforce. We believe in a sensible minimum wage policy which we have followed for the last 4 years that gradually increases the minimum wage to enable businesses to keep up and to enable us to put more money into the pockets of everyday New Zealanders but at a gradual rate and a sensible rate. I do not support this bill. It should not be supported by this Parliament. It would lead to greater unemployment.