van Velden BrookeFAIR PAY AGREEMENTS ACT REPEAL BILLFirst ReadingHon BROOKE VAN VELDEN (Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety): I present to the House a legislative statement on the Fair Pay Agreements Act Repeal Bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon BROOKE VAN VELDEN: I move That the Fair Pay Agreements Act Repeal Bill be now read a first time.The Fair Pay Agreements Act Repeal Bill repeals the Fair Pay Agreements Act and associated amendments to other Acts and revokes associated regulations. Once the Fair Pay Agreements Act is repealed bargaining for initiated fair pay agreements will cease as there will be no legislative mechanism to bring any agreements into force.My clear intention with this repeal bill is for the fair pay agreement system to stop. I want to make that very clear: it is for the fair pay agreement system to stop and for all bargaining processes to cease. Fair pay agreements were never about fairness. They forced a minority of union workers' views on all affected workers and all affected businesses within an industry. The previous Government introduced legislation in 2022 for the fair pay agreement system. Under this system unions and employer associations could bargain for employment terms and conditions that covered all employees in an industry or an occupation.The Fair Pay Agreements Act and associated regulations came into force on 1 December 2022. The National Party and the ACT Party opposed the development and introduction of the fair pay agreement legislation and this repeal has been well signalled—very very clearly signalled—through the entire campaign period through the coalition agreements and through the 100-day plan of this Government. We have a clear mandate from the voters to do this.This Government has committed to repealing the fair pay agreement legislation by Christmas 2023 as part of the coalition agreement between the National Party and the ACT Party and I am committed to acting quickly to remove this legislation before any fair pay agreements are finalised and the transition arrangements become more expensive and more complex. We are doing this bill to send a clear signal to businesses that this Government understands the pressures that businesses have faced in an environment of increasing inflation and a Labour-led Government that has piled on regulations on to businesses that are finding it a struggle to cope. Today this Government is providing certainty to businesses so they can get back to focusing on what they do best.Fair pay agreements require all employers within coverage to offer the same minimum terms and conditions. This leads to a rigid one-size-fits-all agreement. Businesses need the flexibility to innovate if New Zealand is going to compete on the world stage. Workplaces need flexibility. This is something that's becoming an increasing priority for workers especially workers seeking better work-life balance. Fair pay agreements restrict the flexibility that both workers and employers want in today's rapidly changing workplace.Fair pay agreements also risk harming New Zealand's already dismal productivity growth. The best and the most sustainable way to increase the wages of workers and to lower prices for consumers is to improve productivity and reduce the regulations holding businesses back. Fair pay agreements just diminish the fundamental right to freedom of association which includes the freedom to not associate. The most important thing to know about the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment's regulatory impact statement from 2021 is that they recommended against—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): I'm sorry to interrupt the member but the Clerks are having trouble with the audio and cannot hear the Minister. So could I ask for a bit of silence on this side. Thank you. Please.Hon BROOKE VAN VELDEN: Thank you. The most important thing to note about the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment's regulatory impact statement that was produced in 2021 on the Fair Pay Agreements Act is that the ministry recommended against introducing fair pay agreements. They argued that the improvements for employees would be marginal at best and would achieve this at a significant cost to employer flexibility.The fair pay agreements could lead to worse outcomes for workers by raising the costs of doing business. If bargained wage increases meant businesses cannot remain competitive the fair pay agreements would have resulted in lower employment or reduced hours of work—which is not good for workers in our economy. This Government supports higher wages and better conditions for workers especially during a cost of living crisis. But if fair pay agreements had been finalised the costs of doing business would have increased across the board which means the prices of goods and services for businesses would be likely to rise too. That's not good for businesses consumers or workers.No workers—and I want to make this very clear: no workers—will have their wages cut or be worse off compared with the status quo because no fair pay agreements have been signed or finalised. There have been six fair pay agreements that have been initiated since the fair pay agreement legislation came into force. However all are in the very early stages of bargaining. No agreements have been finalised in any industry or any occupation. As no agreements have been finalised in any industry or occupation there are no transitional arrangements required for the fair pay agreements that have been initiated.We are a Government that wants to see higher wages for workers; we want to see a thriving competitive business sector; we want to see more and better jobs in our economy; and we want to ease the pain of the cost of living crisis. But the fair pay agreements would have done so much more damage than any betterment to the economy and to the labour market. Far from being fair or even being about pay the fair pay agreements were about harming the very workers they were meant to help. That is why this Government has opposed it and why we have brought this bill to repeal the Fair Pay Agreements Act to Parliament. I commend the bill to the House.