Simpson ScottHon SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): Kia ora. Thank you very much Mr Speaker. I want to commence my contribution on behalf of the National Party Opposition by acknowledging the very articulate contribution just made by the Minister Kiritapu Allan. I don't have her skills in te reo but I was listening intently to the translation of her speech. She gave a very fulsome a very adequate and a very good background to the reason why Matariki is an appropriate subject for the creation of New Zealand's 12th statutory paid annual holiday each year. She went into some detail about the difficulties in terms of identifying a day each year that could be the appropriate day to mark this event on our calendar. I'm not going to reiterate that at all other than to say that this piece of legislation establishes that 12th statutory paid holiday and it will be a Friday each year and the statute that we are considering today here at first reading prescribes what will be the date for the next 30 years and that's actually quite good because it gives some certainty and some focus on planning if nothing else. So that's all quite good. Here on the National Party side of the House we actually acknowledge and celebrate Matariki and we do so because we underpin the values that go with it and the Minister actually mentioned these in her address—that they are foundations upon remembrance honouring those that we have lost since the last rising of the constellation celebrating the present gathering together and giving thanks for what we have and looking towards the future and what the next 12 months may bring. Those are all worthy attributes and things that we on this side of the House subscribe to as well as on the Government side of the House.Can we acknowledge the importance of the seasonal calendar because it's a reality of our position as a cluster of islands on the globe and our relationship with the celestial constellations that make up so much of what positions us as people as a society as a nation and as individuals. So it is entirely appropriate and it will be a uniquely New Zealand Aotearoa holiday.We on this side of the House however acknowledge that to be uplifting and to shine a light on the celebration that this piece of legislation seeks to establish there actually needs to be something more. It is the something more that the Minister didn't speak about in her speech. The something more was that everybody likes a public holiday—everybody likes a public holiday. Who wouldn't? Who wouldn't like a public holiday? I think that public holidays are not a bad thing but there is an old saying that is probably very apt in this discussion and that is that just as with lunches there being no such thing as a free lunch there is no such thing as a free public holiday. We will be if this piece of legislation passes establishing the 12th paid public holiday and we think on this side of the House that the kai of our nation is actually sustained by more than just creating another public holiday. The kai of our nation is actually built on productivity; on enterprise; on hard work; on effort; and on contributions of individuals of teams of groups and of businesses and their endeavours all around the country. Those are things that we should equally celebrate acknowledge and be grateful for because they are the enterprises and the businesses that provide us with the revenue and tax and funding that gives us everything else that is the kai that we collectively consume as a nation and it is not just all about public holidays. So we need to be exemplars of the practical realities that go along with the responsibility that we have in this place of decreeing such things as public holidays.Now it's all very easy to declare a public holiday; that's the easy part. It is very easy to spend other people's money; there is no real skill in doing that. So on this side of the House we do want to raise the issue that wasn't raised by the Minister of who pays. In this case sadly it's going to be New Zealand businesses. It's going to be lost production and productivity that will occur from yet another day lost. Now some would say that actually Oh well you know people will be about and they'll be spending money and they'll be you know creating a bit of revenue and it will all be going"—Hon Member: Going to the Coromandel market. Hon SCOTT SIMPSON: Yeah my colleague says that they'll be coming to the Coromandel. Well of course they'll be coming to the beautiful Coromandel and that will be fine. But for each of those people that comes to the Coromandel and spends time and money in my patch there will be people who are not being productive not earning their way in the world and actually not paying for it.If the answer to growing New Zealand's wealth and prosperity as a nation was simply to create public holidays well heck why wouldn't we have 365 of them? Why wouldn't we do that? No I think that that is the problem.So the Minister didn't address at all the issues that really a responsible Government should address particularly at this time of COVID. Here we are 18 months into an international pandemic and our businesses and our commercial world and the economy have suffered more than many. So the question that really a responsible Government should be asking when they introduce legislation to create another public holiday should be: does this help or does it hinder business? Does this help or does it hinder the economy? Does it make the economy grow? Is it going to make the economy stronger? Is it going to make for a more productive profitable and a bigger pie from which we can all take a slice? The answer has to be a categorical no. That is the question that every responsible Government should ask of this: is this action this legislation going to provide more rules and regulations? Is it going to stymie is it going to slow down the economy? The answer is almost certainly yes.In fact the Employers and Manufacturers Association chief executive Brett O'Riley when this was first announced said simply that it will be seen as another cost to business and it is unlikely to support the increased tourism which was the original argument for an extra public holiday during COVID-19 alert levels 1 and 2. Certainly that seems to be the evidence that has been created as a result of the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) advice to the Government on this piece of legislation. It looks like the cost will be something in the order of $400 million per annum and that is cost that has to be picked up somewhere along the line. Businesses across New Zealand are already in a fragile state. They have had to bear the burden of massive price increases on a whole range of things: cost increases extra minimum wage commitments extended parental leave commitments the creation of an extra 10 days a year domestic violence leave and a billion dollars of extra costs for an extra week's sick leave. Those are all costs that businesses have to absorb. Businesses will do what is required to remain competitive and profitable and if that means that they just have to be constantly on the receiving end of increased Government costs via proclamation then they will inevitably do what all businesses will do: they will eventually pass those costs on to their customers. And who are their customers? We are their customers. We all pay. Sooner or later there is no such thing as a free lunch there is no such thing as a free public holiday; we all pay sooner or later.We are concerned on this side of the House that notwithstanding the relative merits of creating a public holiday here actually what a responsible Government should be doing particularly given this time in our economic history and our history as a nation is considering actually dropping a public holiday along the line. Maybe that is something that the Government should have considered. It was in the MBIE advice. We on this side of the House would suggest that actually the prudent and proper thing would be yeah sure create the Matariki public holiday that's good and appropriate but let's consider getting rid of one as well. I've got a good suggestion for being rid of one: let's get rid of Labour Day."