Auchinvole Chris: Employment Relations (Breaks and Infant Feeding) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Auchinvole Chris: Employment Relations (Breaks and Infant Feeding) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 02 September 2008. Volume:649;Page:18188. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CHRIS AUCHINVOLE (National) 
: 
 I recall the way this Employment Relations (Breaks and Infant Feeding) Amendment Billwas introduced to the public once it had been decided on. I was actually down at Blackball on the West Coast and indeed Madam Chair you may have been there yourself at the time. You too will possibly remember the occasion of the 90th anniversary celebration of Paddy Webb and others’ activity in obtaining half-an-hour’s crib time for coalminers. This was an interesting occasion because there were historians down there who painted an interesting picture of the whole sequence. 
Let us address Part 1 of the bill. It refers largely to breastfeeding opportunities for mothers and to rest breaks. It is a perfectly sensible bill and one that National is supporting. It was introduced as I say at Blackball. Maryan Street introduced it to the assembled gathering that was down there to note the 1908 strike which led eventually to the crib break of half-an-hour. There were quite a few interesting aspects of that. There were some historians there and there was also a High Court judge there who corrected some of the myths and the legends that have crept into the memory of the litigation. An interesting point is that there had always been a half-hour crib break which was reduced to 15 minutes at the request of the miners so they could get out of the mine a little earlier. So it was not quite as plain as it first looked. I have to say that this bill is not quite as plain as it first appeared because here we go again. An innocent and useful little bill has been treated as a sort of miniature Trojan horse. 
The bill has been loaded in the words of my colleague Kate Wilkinson with a “sneaky little Supplementary Order Paper” as if by sleight of hand to include an amendment to cover disadvantages to employees signed up to KiwiSaver as grounds for personal grievance. I wonder whether this is really in the scope of the bill. I do not remember it being discussed. It certainly was not mentioned by Maryan Street down in the workingmen’s club in Blackball. She said in her splendid manner that she had received advice from the Hon Trevor Mallard that we had these new advantages for working people—breastfeeding breaks meal breaks and rest breaks. She did not say: “Oh and by the way there’s going to be another little addition that will refer to personal grievance associated with KiwiSaver.” 
How long has this been part of an intended but undisclosed agenda? I do not say it is a secret agenda because it is out in the open now but there was certainly very little advice when this bill was put forward that this provision around KiwiSaver would be part of it. I have to wonder as a novice in the House what other Supplementary Order Papers disguised as something else we will see slipped into bills as part of an intended but undisclosed agenda during this period of urgency. I am astonished that this is the way it is done. Is this really the ethical standard that Labour is now showing towards the end of this term? Is this Mr Mallard’s ethical standard suddenly revealed? What else will be rushed in during urgency? Ah the Minister smiles! That indicates to me—being a trader and a bit of a negotiator—that what we have seen is just the start. Are we going to hear perhaps something about the situation of Timberlands down on the West Coast where West Coast millers and West Coast communities are calling for a response from Mr Mallard and other shareholding Ministers? There seems to be silence on the issue. Those on the West Coast seem to think they have not been treated fairly. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs) 
: The bill sir the bill. 
CHRIS AUCHINVOLE 
: Indeed. Coming back to the bill I say that this again is a situation where something has been promised something has been proposed something has been discussed and now it is going to be changed. The emphasis has changed completely away from the original intention of the bill. People are beginning to feel “We was robbed we’ve been cheated.” I think Paddy Webb whom I have respect for would have been ashamed.