Twyford Phil: Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
Twyford Phil: Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
[Volume:668;Page:14986] 
PHIL TWYFORD (Labour) 
: 
 I also have a suggestion for the title of the Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill. I think this bill should be called the “National Party’s Craven Cynical Attempt to Claim Credit for Inventing the New Zealand Film Industry Bill”. Is that too long? I do not know. It does not have the virtue of brevity but it certainly is more accurate than the name that the Government gave this bill. 
We would think from listening to the debate in the Chamber from the Government benches this afternoon that this movie  
The Hobbit 
 was the first blockbuster movie ever made in New Zealand and that the National-ACT Government was the first Government in New Zealand’s history to ever do anything constructive for the New Zealand film industry. We would think that the Prime Minister had saved the day and single-handedly rescued  
The Hobbit 
 
and that he 
alone is responsible for saving the New Zealand film industry. 
I want to table a document during this call that lists the feature films that have been made in New Zealand. It starts off in 1939 with  
Rewi’s Last Stand 
 and the director was Rudall Hayward. Over the years there have been hundreds and hundreds of great New Zealand movies produced in New Zealand many of them with the support of the Government. In 1999 the fifth Labour Government launched a whole suite of policies to encourage the development of the New Zealand film industry. I will read to the Committee some of the names of the films that were produced with the support of the fifth Labour Government. It started with  
The Lord of the Rings 
 I II and III. In 2002 we had  
Whale Rider 
 which was directed by Niki Caro. It is a film that many of us are familiar with. In 2003 we had  
The Last Samurai 
 which I believe was filmed in Taranaki. 
Jacinda Ardern 
: What was the company? 
PHIL TWYFORD 
: I think it might have been Warner Bros—oh my goodness! In 2004 there was a very good film based on the Maurice Gee novel called  
In My Father’s Den 
 which was directed by Brad McGann. Roger Donaldson made  
The World’s Fastest Indian 
 in 2005. Also in 2005 during the term of the fifth Labour Government Andrew Adamson directed  
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe 
. It was a vintage year. That year Toa Fraser directed  
No. 2 
 Peter Jackson—that is familiar—directed  
King Kong 
 and also in 2005  
Sione’s Wedding 
 was directed by Chris Graham. In 2006 Robert Sarkies made  
Out of the Blue 
—a great New Zealand movie. Taika Waititi made  
Eagle vs Shark 
 a modern classic of New Zealand film making. In 2007  
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 
 was made. In 2008  
Second-Hand Wedding 
 was made and Toa Fraser made  
Dean Spanley 
 which was 
a co-production with the UK—another great New Zealand movie. 
I think it is becoming pretty clear even to the members sitting on the backbench even to Tau Henare that the previous Labour Government gave fantastic support to the New Zealand film industry. In fact 119 New Zealand movies were made during the fifth Labour Government. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: So why do you want to ruin the industry then? 
PHIL TWYFORD 
: We do not. What I object to is this Government cynically manipulating the circumstances of the production of  
The Hobbit 
 to try to claim credit not only for saving the movie but for saving the New Zealand film industry. The name of this bill should be the “Employment Relations (Legal Fiction) Amendment Bill”. My colleague David Parker made the argument before that this bill formalises a lie—it formalises a lie. It changes the law so that someone who is patently an employee can be a declared a contractor.