Lees-Galloway Iain: Third Readings —Text is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLees-Galloway Iain: Third Readings —[Sitting date: 10 March 2016. Volume:711;Page:9612. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North): The passing this afternoon of this legislation arising from the Employment Standards Legislation Bill represents a significant and decisive win for the labour movement in New Zealand because we have got here today because of the efforts of thousands of ordinary working people—people who got out on the streets and protested people whose unions bargained with their employers to get rid of zero-hour contracts. But they were not satisfied with that and wanted to get rid of them for every other worker in the country and so they came to Parliament to get us to make the change. It is a significant victory for people working collectively for the industrial and the political arms of the labour movement—working together to get better outcomes for working New Zealanders. Have no doubt about it. When this legislation is passed working New Zealanders will be better off because zero-hour contracts will be gone for good.That is something not just for this House to celebrate not just for New Zealand to celebrate but also for the labour movement to celebrate together. Andrew Little was absolutely right when he said that success has many parents and failure is an orphan. I think it is a testament to just what a significant change this is to our employment law that so many people have wanted to share in this success. But I do want to make some acknowledgments today because this has been a team effort. That is how we work on this side of the House. We believe in the collective and this has been a team effort so I want to acknowledge everybody who has been involved.I want to start with Unite union because that is where it all started. It was Unite union representing its members who work in fast food who actually introduced the term “zero-hour contract” to New Zealanders. Nobody in New Zealand understood what a zero-hour contract was until Unite informed us and told us that this is something that we needed to work on. I want to congratulate Unite union on its success—some time ago now—in eradicating those zero-hour contracts from most fast food employers but also on its work in ensuring that we went further than that. Unite can consider itself the real hero in this and Unite union should pat itself on the back today because New Zealand workers—all New Zealand workers; whether they are Unite union members or not—are better off as a result of this.I then want to acknowledge the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions because when we in the Labour Party wanted to put a member’s bill forward to attempt to address this issue it was the Council of Trade Unions that worked with us to get that member’s bill written up appropriately and lodged here in Parliament. So that was the first point at which the Council of Trade Unions got involved. Of course there have been many many many points since. The submission to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee along with the submissions of many other unions and the submissions of employers as well made it clear that we had to do a lot more than what was in the original legislation if we were to truly eradicate zero-hour contracts. Thank you to the Council of Trade Unions for that and thank you for the work over the last fortnight or so working with the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety working with officials and working with us in the Opposition to ensure that we got this across the line. The Council of Trade Unions has been absolutely pivotal in making that happen.The next group that I want to acknowledge are the other Opposition parties especially those who are on the committee with us the Green Party and the New Zealand First Party because another pivotal factor in this was the fact that Labour the Greens and New Zealand First produced a shared minority view. We were of one mind on this and it was clear to the Government that it had a united Opposition that was working together on eradicating zero-hour contracts. It was on that foundation of the united Opposition that we were able to reach out to the minor parties.I want to acknowledge Marama Fox because Marama and I have been talking about this a long time—not just since the select committee but before that as well. Marama took an interest in this and wanted to be informed. That meant that when we came back from the select committee and we were not satisfied with the result Marama was ready to pick up her role as part of one of the Government’s support parties. Of course that was always where we knew we had an opportunity—to work with our friends in the Māori Party to make sure that we could pull together around this House a majority of parties that wanted to eliminate zero-hour contracts.I want to acknowledge Peter Dunne for noticing when we had a lot to say about this after the select committee process and for starting to question why it was that the Opposition was not happy with the legislation in its form as it came back from the select committee.I want to acknowledge the Minister because when we did come back from the select committee and when there was clear opposition to the way the legislation was written and when it was clear that we needed something much stronger the Minister did reach out and for the last fortnight or so we have been working together to get this legislation into its final form where it truly could be a victory for working people. So thank you Minister for being prepared to do that work and thank you Minister for making officials available so that all the amendments that went up were properly drafted and were able to contribute to a good piece of legislation.Minister I want to say that I understand your predicament. I understand why you want to tone this one down a little bit and why you want to perhaps suggest that these are minor changes. I must admit to being a little bit nervous myself about whether or not this would get through the National caucus. We perhaps wanted to just keep things toned down whilst things were a bit delicate as well. But Minister it is true that this is a significant change and is a significant turn-round in this legislation. We took this legislation from a bill that entrenched zero-hour contracts and turned it into a bill that eliminates zero-hour contracts. I do not know what planet you would have to be on to call that a minor change. That is a significant change and workers out there across New Zealand recognise that that is a significant change. We should celebrate the fact that this is not minor; this is significant. That is why everybody wants to be on board this bus; that is why everybody wants to be part of this celebration because working New Zealanders are considerably better off as a result of this legislation.I think what has happened in the last couple of weeks has been a very good example to people of how the next Government is going to work. Not only is the next Government going to stand up for working people not only is the next Government going to fight when it sees injustices being done to working people but the next Government is also going to work very very hard to significantly improve the lives of working people. We are going to do that by being absolutely staunch in our values by not being prepared to give an inch when it comes to the things that really matter to us and really matter to working people and also by being able to work with parties around the Parliament to get real change. That is how the next Government is going to work. I think what people have seen over the last little while is a very good example of the way the Andrew Little - Labour-led Government is going to work in the interests of all working people.I do just want to very quickly remind the House what this legislation does and why it is so important. Obviously the bit that I have focused on is zero-hour contracts. It means that working people will no longer have to sit at home waiting for a phone call desperately waiting to know whether or not they are going to get work. People are going to be more likely after this legislation is passed to have guaranteed hours. It means that they know what their income is going to be it means that they can plan ahead in their lives it means they can go to the bank and ask for a loan and it means that they can go and buy a TV or a fridge or a bed on hire purchase and know that they are going to be able to make the repayments.It also means that people are going to be able to live a decent life because they are going to be able to know when they can have a life outside of work. That is important: to be able to have a life outside of work to be able to join sports clubs to be able to go to your kids’ school and see them playing sport or being in a play or see their assembly. It is important to be able to do the things that ordinary working people ought to be able to take for granted. Those were the things that people on zero-hour contracts could not do. That is why we had to get rid of them. That is why it is such an important change for working people.But I also want to acknowledge the aspects of paid parental leave that let us face it are in the legislation because of the advocacy of the Labour Party and of Sue Moroney and of the wider labour movement. So we are pleased to see that in the legislation as well. We are pleased to see the improvements to employment standards as well so that rogue employers will be far more heavily penalised if they see fit to flout the law. As I have said this is a day for celebration for the labour movement for this House and for New Zealand as a whole. After this law is passed zero-hour contracts are history in New Zealand and that is a fine thing.