Bennett David: Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBennett David: Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 17 April 2013. Volume:689;Page:9459. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East): Since Mr Grant Robertson just gave the opening speech on this bill the Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill I think we all need to pay credit to Dr David Clark for the work he has done on it. This is actually his bill. I would not let Mr Robertson take credit for the bill.Grant Robertson: It was mine.DAVID BENNETT: He says it was his bill but no David Clark is the one who has promoted this bill. David Clark is the one who has done the work on this bill and—Hon Annette King: It was his bill first David.DAVID BENNETT: I know what you are saying but Mr Clark is the one who actually should be promoted here today not Mr Robertson. I think it is strange that the Labour Party members are now fighting amongst themselves over who is to take the credit for this bill. That is a very disappointing thing but it just shows the contempt that Labour Party members hold for their own membership—the way that they treat their colleagues in this House. Today we are seeing a battle between two Labour front-benchers over who should actually take the credit for this bill when this is a serious bill.I would like to pay tribute to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee which actually looked at this bill and went through all the arguments in a very fair and reasonable way. It was very well led I must admit through the select committee consideration and I think Mr Clark should take a lot of credit for the way he actually approached the bill unlike other members of the Labour Party here today who are trying to make mischief while one of their members is out of the country. It is a shame that they will do that—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): Order! Can I just remind the member that it is out of order to refer to someone being absent from the Chamber. All of us have to take time from the Chamber sometimes.DAVID BENNETT: Yes I understand that.Hon Annette King: How long has he been here?DAVID BENNETT: Mr Clark? He has been here for just his first term. I think it is disappointing that you do that to a first-term member and try to take the credit away from him—Hon Annette King: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The member cannot bring you into debate and he just did.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): You are absolutely right. You cannot bring the Speaker into the debate.DAVID BENNETT: Just to the people listening I say that I think it is disappointing that we are talking about a serious bill here and the Labour Party for the first couple of minutes of my speech has been attacking the National Party around who is actually in control of that bill. I think that is very disappointing coming from the Labour Party.When we have a look at this bill this is a bill where we understand the arguments on both sides. There are good arguments on both sides for this bill. Nobody denies the important role that holidays play in the working life of people to give them the chance to spend time with their friends and family in the community.We have very special days in New Zealand that are represented by holidays. Traditionally you have the statutory holidays the 11 basic public holidays which are very important to our culture and our community. We also have the annual holidays that are available to New Zealanders as well. If you look at New Zealand you have 11 public holidays and 20 days’ minimum annual paid leave. If you go to another country like for example the United States it has 10 public holidays and it has zero minimum annual paid leave. So New Zealand has a very generous system and nobody would hold that against the New Zealand community or workers or anybody involved in the system. I think the holidays that we are talking about today Waitangi Day and Anzac Day are especially special days because they represent very strong parts of our history and our country going forward and I think nobody takes that away from those very special days.So this is not an attack on workers as the Labour Party will try to portray—it is far from that. It is not the situation as Mr Robertson has tried to indicate that the National Party does not support workers. That is not the case. This is a case where the National Party likes to take into account the full circumstances around this issue.One of the big circumstances that I think people need to be aware of in this debate is the actual effect of this bill. In 2015 there will be 1 day that will be Mondayised in 2016 there will be another day and then there will be nothing until 2020. So the effect of this bill is very remote in the extreme. This is not a big bill that is going to deliver for New Zealand workers or for the New Zealand community. This is not a bill of the consequence that the Labour Party tries to portray and it is a bit sad that it even has to fight over a bill that does not have that consequence either.The next time this bill will be effective will be in 2015 and that will be with Anzac Day and then in 2016 it will be with Waitangi Day. Then workers will have to wait until 2020 for the next Anzac Day.Hon Trevor Mallard: Well come on move an amendment. We’ll give you leave.DAVID BENNETT: So this bill does not have a lot of effect on New Zealand workers. What are you saying Trevor?Hon Trevor Mallard: Add three or four more—we’ll give leave.DAVID BENNETT: So Mr Mallard wants to add more days. Well this bill does not add more days. It indicates that these days—Hon Trevor Mallard: That Government’s taking them away.DAVID BENNETT: Oh we are not taking them away. Mr Mallard is saying we are taking them away; that is just not the case. We have been through this before with MrMallard about getting the facts right. It is simply not the case that anything is being taken away.In New Zealand we value the role that our public holidays have in our community and in our country. We understand the importance of them. The National Party by not voting for this bill is not attacking workers’ rights. It is merely that we represent that there are some other issues involved in this bill. For me one of the big issues involved in this bill is that it has limited effect. Waiting until 2020 to see any effect is not a big thing. It is a bit like the Labour Party and its superannuation policy. That will not have any effect until 2025 will it? That was its last superannuation policy. It might be interesting to see how the new one actually pans out. But this bill does not have a large effect in the immediate future and that is a shame for this House.When we actually went through it in the select committee there were a number of submissions in favour of this bill. I would like to thank those submitters for coming in and for the way that they did their submissions. I would like to thank the variety of submitters we had as well.Dr Cam Calder: How many did you have?DAVID BENNETT: We had numerous submissions and there were a lot of arguments made around different sorts of issues in the bill. One of the big issues is the actual cost of the potential holiday. That is something that there was some debate within the select committee around that cost.Dr Cam Calder: What was the cost?DAVID BENNETT: Well because the cost indicated—there is always a financial cost if you are granting a holiday. But then there were arguments made that there is actually a financial gain too for the potential spending in such things as the tourism community and suchlike. Those are valid arguments that were put up. The select committee considered them at length and came to very good conclusions around them.This bill is a good start by Mr Clark in his political career. It is a bill that he has portrayed and built through this House and we commend him for that. Unfortunately though this bill has some issues with it. It does not have a large effect in the immediate future and that is why it is a bit sad that the Labour Party is pinning its hopes on this bill. There are other ways that we can address these issues. I recommend to the House that this bill is something that we should consider but unfortunately at this stage the National Party will not be voting for this bill.