Mackey Moana: Minimum Wage and Remuneration Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Mackey Moana: Minimum Wage and Remuneration Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:654;Page:3920] 
MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 I am happy to take a call on new Part 3 of the Minimum Wage and Remuneration Amendment Bill. I was working in my office when I heard the extraordinary speech by Tau Henare. He quoted Milton Friedman as the go-to guy for minority rights when it comes to industrial relations issues. I thought that I had to get down here and speak in this debate. If Mr Henare thinks that Friedman is the go-to guy then I quote another guy who had a little bit to do with African-American politics in America—just a little bit. I do not claim that he had more to do with it than Friedman as that is up to the Committee to decide. This quotation is from Martin Luther King; members may have heard of him. On 18 March 1968—days before his murder—King told striking sanitation workers in Memphis Tennessee: “it is criminal to have people working on a full-time basis and a full-time job getting part-time income … We are tired of working our hands off and labouring every day and not even making a wage adequate with daily basic necessities of life.” Two years earlier on 18 March 1966 King had called for Congress to boost the minimum wage. He said: “We know of no more crucial civil rights issue facing Congress today than the need to increase the Federal minimum wage and extend its coverage.” He said: “A living wage should be the right of all working Americans”. I ask Mr Tau Henare whom he thinks speaks more loudly for African-American workers in America—Friedman or Martin Luther King? I think that the answer is pretty clear. 
I commend Darien Fenton the member in charge of this bill for bringing it to the House. Despite the rhetoric of National members who are suddenly claiming that they think the minimum wage is great they never raised it when they were in Government apart from the time New Zealand First forced them to as part of its confidence and supply agreement. They never raised it but they now say they support it because they know that public sentiment is behind a minimum wage. But I say that if they really believe that then they will support this part and this legislation. All it says is that all workers in New Zealand are entitled to a minimum level of remuneration for the jobs they do. How unfair is that? How unfair is it to expect that when workers carry out a job they are remunerated at the minimum wage? I think that most people in New Zealand believe that that is the case already. 
Tim Macindoe 
: Why didn’t you make the pledge 2 years ago? 
MOANA MACKEY 
: I tell Mr Macindoe that we were so busy passing so much legislation to benefit workers and to undo the damage that the National Government had done in the 1990s that we looked to visionary members of Parliament like Darien Fenton who has a history in the union movement that is unequalled among National members to bring forward legislation that can help the workers of New Zealand. 
I want to know why National members think this is such terrible legislation that not only do they have to oppose it but also members like Tau Henare have to ridicule it in the Chamber. They think this is a joke. The Hon Dr Nick Smith said that Labour thinks we can just regulate poverty away. But I say to that member that a person who is going about a job and who is expecting a fair day’s wages for a fair day’s work does not really care how they get the minimum wage. They just want to get it. He can stand in this Chamber and I am sure he is going to jump up because he has been taking little notes and give a speech on how Labour would regulate poverty away and make it all better by passing legislation. But the people who will benefit from this legislation and who will suddenly get the minimum wage—who now under a loophole do not get it—really do not care how that happens. All they care is about putting food on the table and putting a roof over their kids’ heads. If this legislation will do it then I say to the Hon Dr Nick Smith that those people are probably quite prepared for that to happen. Any kind of argument about regulation or non-regulation does not mean a lot to those on the breadline. There are people on the breadline. There are people who are being contracted out right now. They are not getting the minimum wage because there is a loophole in our legislation—a loophole that Darien Fenton to her credit has picked up has pointed out and has brought to the Chamber. 
The National Party should support this legislation because this is about the livelihood of New Zealand workers. This is about their ability to feed their families. We have a Budget tomorrow and it is the first real test that John Key’s Government has not been able to avoid. That is the first test and it is set down in stone where National has to put up its plan for jobs and for wages. That is a plan that we have not seen so far. We have seen a couple of initiatives here and there and Labour has provided support for those initiatives where we felt it was appropriate but it has not been enough. During the last election campaign Labour said it would do a mini-Budget before Christmas because things had changed so much since the Budget of May last year that any responsible Government should address that situation by introducing a stimulus package before Christmas to boost our economy boost wages support jobs and create jobs at a time when our country needed it most. The National Government decided not to do that and that was absolutely its prerogative. It decided that it could ride it out until May this year. It decided that things were not so bad and it could just leave it all up until May this year when it finally has a Budget. 
The rubber hits the road tomorrow and Labour will be watching very carefully. We will be watching on behalf of all those people whom we represent in this Chamber and those people who would benefit from this legislation which National and ACT have the numbers to vote down tonight. We will be watching on behalf of those people who are currently not getting the minimum wage despite the fact that we have a minimum wage law in this country. Most New Zealanders believe all workers are covered by a minimum wage but they are not despite the fact that their costs have increased their income has decreased and their job security has decreased. Labour will be judging the National Government on that basis.