Andersen GinnyHon GINNY ANDERSEN (Labour): He caught me by surprise! He had a couple minutes left on the clock so I'll have to get stuck into it.Now we've heard many things today and I will acknowledge the fact that yes New Zealanders did vote for change at the last election. But I question: did the change they voted for include more people smoking to enable the funding of tax cuts for rich New Zealanders because that's not what I'm hearing back. I don't think that New Zealanders voted for that. And did New Zealanders also vote for the kind of change that will deliver lower wages and worse working conditions for hard-working New Zealand workers right before Christmas? Did they know that—that that would drive it down?So I think it's important to note that the first two pieces of legislation that this new Government brings to this House under urgency is targeted on jobs and employment making sure that unemployment is removed out of the Finance Act and also driving down workers' wages through repealing fair pay agreements. They are the first two pieces of legislation out the gate.And I ask you what does this say for the leadership of the National Party? What does this say for the leadership of the National Party when some of the most meanest stuff that's in their basket so far has been farmed out to some of their coalition partners? Shane Reti has sheepishly shoved the cigarettes and the lighter over to Casey Costello giving her the delegation to have to look after this one while he can concentrate on improving outcomes for Māori. The fact that we have a Māori Minister of Health who is promising to improve health outcomes for Māori while delegating responsibility for more smoking for Māori to his coalition partners is an absolute stain on the name of the new Government.Secondly the other one that's been passed over is the fair pay agreements slid over to Brooke van Velden today to leave her to make the embarrassing statements such as Workers will be worse off. They would've been worse off under fair pay agreements." They're delegating those out. So if this is the honeymoon period then it's going to be one hell of a divorce I can tell you. It's going to be a rocky old relationship if this is the courting period.So let's take a close look at what's happening with fair pay agreements. In a cost of living crisis we're hearing that Kiwis are stretched and they need more legislation that's going to be brought in that will do exactly the opposite of what they're trying to do. It will drive down wages and it will decrease the working conditions. It's really interesting to note that the OECD has put out a good report available online—if anyone would like to check it out—showing that productivity actually increases under fair pay agreements. Not only did the OECD agree but also so does the Treasury who gave great advice saying that the official advice was ignored by the Minister that Pasifika women Māori young people disabled would all be adversely affected by the fact that fair pay agreements will be repealed. I think it's important to note that it's not just about good things for our workers but it's actually good things for our employers. An interesting point that came up that was obviously on Newstalk ZB with Nicola Willis last Thursday—we talked about productivity and flexibility. And what Nicola Willis said on the radio—and we just say "Look actually that would impose huge costs. It would reduce flexibility. It would actually be a step backwards for New Zealand and the flexible employment relations that workers enjoy." Well what I would actually like to say is it does the opposite because if we have a standard agreement across an industry that means in those regions that are crying out for workers that need people in there we can have workers go from one area to another with a standard agreement on what their wages and their conditions are. So research provides that it in fact increases productivity and increases flexibility. It stops them from being undercut by employers who offer lower wages and lower conditions.A classic example if you live in the Wellington region would be our bus industry. We can all remember the "bustastrophe" that occurred right here in Wellington and that was exactly the opposite of what fair pay agreements would have done. So the Public Transport Operating Model introduced by Steven Joyce under the National Government—which was the privatisation of the public transport system—enabled a contracting race to the bottom that meant lower wages and lower working conditions. Fair pay agreements would enable a standardised wage and a standardised set of conditions that would have meant that we did not have bus drivers leaving to become truck drivers; leaving to go to Australia—and that is what the National Government is stepping away from and it will be their basket to carry when we see things like this occur again.I'd like to pick up on the point around productivity because when we don't have a race to the bottom—as we had with the bus drivers in Wellington—in areas such as manufacturing we have employers that actually compete on things like better products technology improving the products and the way they're doing their intellectual property skill development of their workers. Instead of having a race to the bottom instead of having that type of competition we're actually competing on smarts and having a better level of products marketed out in innovation to our global partners that we can compete on instead of racing amongst ourselves to the bottom. Because all it does is it's a trickle-down approach that gets us nowhere. We're back in the 1980s we're back on that old treadmill that National always brings us back to: the sad trickle-down that never sees those at the bottom get a drop.I'd like to touch on one other area today and that is te reo Māori and the move away from Māori language and tikanga Māori. It's been a message loud and clear that's come across from this Government and I would like to stand and say how disgusted I am with the approach that we've taken. The fact that we have Māori heritage Māori culture and Māori language in New Zealand is what defines us from the rest of the world. I'm proud as a New Zealander to be able to speak Māori; I find it to be an important part of my identity as a New Zealander. The fact that we introduced a new public holiday—Matariki—that was the first of our own public holidays here in New Zealand—I'm proud of that fact.When my kids came home and taught me about Matariki; told me about the names of the stars in the sky I could see the pride in their faces when they talked about it. We were able to look up at the stars and reflect on loved ones that we had lost in the past year and tell those stories. Those are important parts of our national identity and it makes me sad upset and disgusted that as a Government we are stepping away from who we are as a nation. I think we need to set the standard by saying that we are proud New Zealanders that we have a shared history and the Treaty of Waitangi is part of our history. Yes there will be debate and it is healthy to have that debate. But to hide from it and to sweep it under the carpet is a sad indictment on us as New Zealanders.I look forward to being able to continue to move in a way that we see better moves for us as a country and I want to make sure that in the upcoming weeks months and years we will continue to interrogate this Government—as it struggles to find money for the tax cuts that it has promised New Zealanders as we see that when the tobacco money runs out as we see that there is no foreign buyers tax and as we see that New Zealanders realise that the change that they voted for will not be delivered by this Government. It will be a circus. There are clowns in this circus and they are performing their roles for the greatest spectacular we will ever see in New Zealand politics. As we watch the buck being passed and as we see those at the very bottom—those who struggle the most—suffering as a result of the selfishness of this new Government we will be there to make sure we fight for our people that we fight for the fact that we have workers who deserve fair pay workers who deserve fair conditions; that we have people who want to be able to live healthy lives without having to have people capitalise on pushing tobacco. And as we have a country who is proud of te reo Māori proud of tikanga Māori and proud of who we are in Aotearoa we will continue to call upon our partners right across New Zealand to continue to this fight to say that we are not selfish. We do not just want more money for those who already have some; we will fight for those who need more—and I am proud to be part of that."