Grigg Nicola; Salesa JennyNICOLA GRIGG (National—Selwyn): Thank you Madam Speaker. I'm about to say something I never ever thought would come out of my mouth and I don't want it to be taken literally. Oh I would love to be in the Labour caucus right now so I could listen to the conversations that are occurring within that room! I can just imagine the splits and the divisions in a caucus that's so full of union members and union organisers and union delegates. Can you just imagine the conversations that have been occurring because of where we have got to with this bill in this House this evening? Hon Scott Simpson: And frustrated ambition.NICOLA GRIGG: It would be—frustrated ambition" says Scott Simpson. I could not agree more.We have got to a situation where "the party of the worker" "the party of the union" is disallowing the voice of its members. This truncated process is disallowing their very people to come to the table and have a discussion because that Labour Government did not like what it heard and it said "See you later guys. We're taking this thing through urgency. We're going to rush it through on a Wednesday evening and be done with it."Ordinarily in a second reading—as you know—we'd be discussing generally the submissions that we'd heard during a select committee process and we'd be speaking around those—the fors and against and the pros and the cons. But we don't have that opportunity. Hon Michael Woodhouse: Why is that?NICOLA GRIGG: Indeed Michael Woodhouse why is that? That is because those very people that that Government purports to serve have been shut out of the conversation.This bill that we are here rushing through under urgency seeks to increase the minimum wage rates that apply to support workers covered in the principal Act that we the National Party brought in in Government in 2017. Here this afternoon under Andrew Little's guidance it's looking to extend the key provisions of that Act past 1 July 2022. When's 1 July? It's in eight days' time. Wow! That goes back to my original point. I would love to be a fly on the wall in that caucus room in an absolute shambles of a discussion that would have been going—Hon Scott Simpson: You're assuming they're allowed to talk.NICOLA GRIGG: I am assuming they're allowed to talk Scott Simpson! [Interruption] Anyway back to the bill at hand gentlemen. I shan't be distracted from the comments that I'd like to make to this House this afternoon. The pay increases that the National Party legislated for ranged between 15 and 50 percent over five years—five years at which point brings us up to July just next week at which the point of the legislation containing that very settlement would expire. I cannot imagine how we have got to this point. What sort of Mickey Mouse outfit is running this country? This piece of legislation has been in place for five years and how often everyone—how often—do we hear Andrew Little reminding us of what he's achieved in those five years and the nine years of neglect under the National Government? Well here we go. This is five years of neglect from this Labour Government. They have had five years and they would have known about it for every single one of those five years. But here we are today in a panic in a flap rushing through an amendment so that all those thousands—65000—of affected workers won't fall through the cracks after 1 July in just a week's time.I am trying to stick to the bill at hand. The original agreement specifies minimum hourly wage rates payable by employers to support workers for work performed during that period of 1 July 2017 through to 30 June 2022. But for this reason some sections of this principal Act will be repealed in just eight days leaving no mechanism to maintain the gains made in wage rates. I ask that side of the House: did this not ring any alarm bells? Did nobody set a calendar reminder for 1 July 2022? Guys 30 June was a hard deadline. It was included in the original Act. The Government has been so slow to get to this. If it weren't so serious it would be laughable. Cabinet only agreed in April—just a couple of months ago—that it would provide any additional funding whatsoever to enable the minimum wage adjustment.Kristine Bartlett—2018's New Zealander of the Year—has said how very very disappointed she is with this Government. Grey Power equally has said it is sad and it is angry and that is just the start of it. That is before we start to talk to those members affected and the very patients affected.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Order! This debate is interrupted. I will resume the Chair after dinner at 7 p.m.Sitting suspended from 5.57 p.m. to 7 p.m."