Bennett David: Minimum Wage and Remuneration Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Bennett David: Minimum Wage and Remuneration Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:654;Page:3912] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 All those members of the House who are new here this year would have expected Labour to pass this legislation when it had the chance. Labour members have stood here tonight and said how great the Minimum Wage and Remuneration Amendment Bill is for New Zealand workers and how bad National is for not bringing in this legislation and what did they do for 9 years? For 9 years they sat there and they did not do it. I feel sorry for Darien. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: The member must refer to a member by the member’s full name. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: I feel sorry for Darien Fenton. I think she has been led down the garden path by Labour. It has put her up here tonight to promote this bill but it did not give her the support she needed last year. Where were Labour members last year? They did not come into this House to say how great this bill was. They were too worried about keeping Peter Brown and Winston Peters in line before they did anything. That was what it was all about for them. They could not get the support of the smaller parties so they never supported this bill. 
It is a shame for Labour members to come in here now and deliver all these speeches about how great they are for workers how they look after workers’ rights and how they want to be there for workers in the future. But where were they for workers when they had a chance? Were they passing Part 2 of this bill when they had a chance to do it? No way! They were not there. They have never been there. The workers of New Zealand know they never will be there for them because there is only one thing that Labour members care about and that is themselves. All those members care about is being in here. All they care about is what happens to them. They do not care about the people of this country; they never have and they never will. 
Their whole mantra is what Tau Henare talked about. Those members try to put people down and keep them down. They do not give them choice or the chance to make their own choices in life. They do not give people the chance to run their own business or become an independent contractor. People have to be employees because if they are employees the Labour Party has the ability to control them. That is what the Labour Party is about. Labour does not want independent contractors. The word “independent” is against the Labour’s beliefs and that is why it will not have it. Why would Labour want somebody who is independent—somebody who can think for him or herself? If people can think for themselves then they do not join the Labour Party. That is the point. That is what the Labour Party is trying to do to all New Zealanders. It wants all New Zealanders to be the same to look the same to act the same to work the same and to be paid the same. 
Is that how it works? No way! We do not see members opposite going out and living the dream do we? No way! They are in here in their cushy chairs telling other people how to live their lives. That will not cut it because the public of New Zealand see through the Labour Party. They saw through Labour at the last election and they will see through Labour at the next couple of elections. People know that they want to be independent. They want to have a dream. They want to make the most of their opportunities. They want to do the best that they can do for themselves and for their families and Part 2 does not give them that. Part 2 takes that away from them. Part 2 takes away from individuals the freedom to make the most of their opportunities and the Labour Party thinks that is good. That is against human rights. It is a human right that we give people the choice and the ability to deliver their own opportunities in the best way they can. 
They need those human rights. Labour members talk about human rights all the time. They think they know all about human rights but what are they providing for human rights in the bill? Labour is not providing choice freedom or independence; all it wants is employees whom Labour can sign up to a union and tell them how to vote so Labour can fund its campaigns. 
That is all this bill is about. That is all the Labour Party has ever wanted and will ever want. Labour knows that that gives it control. That is what this bill is about. The public of New Zealand should not be fooled into thinking this bill is about the minimum wage and all those kinds of things to do with workers’ rights; the bill is about control. The bill is about Labour determining that it has control over people’s lives. The people in New Zealand do not want that. They told Labour so at the end of last year. The Committee will tell Labour when it votes on this bill that we do not want that. The public of New Zealand will be far better off.