Kuriger BarbaraBARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country): The dilemma of equal pay is not isolated to New Zealand; it is a global issue and absolutely one that does need to be addressed. There is no denying the significance of this issue and how very real the fact is that bias and perceptions about women in the workforce are a key factor in driving the gender pay gap.The Equal Pay Amendment Bill does have merit and the Government is sympathetic to the aims of the bill. However we do not agree that the proposed changes set out by the member Jan Logie who has put this bill forward will effectively mitigate the issue of pay inequality and therefore we cannot support this bill going through the House.Pay equity is the principle that women and men should receive the same remuneration for doing jobs that are different but of equal value. This is distinct from equal pay which is the same pay for doing the same job. Pay equity issues can stem from an undervaluation of work predominantly performed by women over time. The bill put forward by the Opposition proposes changes that would require employers to provide gender pay gap information to employees on request so that they may be able to identify potential discrimination. However this is only part of the issue. The differences could also reflect legitimate non-discriminatory factors such that remuneration and time records do not record. Gender is not the sole issue in consideration when determining remuneration points.The bill also poses major privacy risks. As the Opposition has always been against any form of potential privacy breaches if a business owner in charge of a small business with only half a dozen employees starts passing out this information then the personal identification of particular employees in this business is likely to be at risk. It does not actually take very much to work out who that employee might be. It could breach the most basic of privacy codes.Thirdly the bill proposes an independent reviewer to consider and advise how to mitigate these risks but the bill resolutely fails to make clear how the reviewer would be appointed the extent to which they could use this data and what they could do with it. These are greater risks in themselves. How many independent reviewers would you need to conduct this sort of review in each and every business? If you just think about the businesses up and down the country it would take quite a lot of work to be reviewing them.Again this bill has no limit on the use of the information that is collected. Where does commercial confidentiality fit within this bill's directive? Nowhere in this bill does it explicitly state that a reviewer employer or employee could not disclose the information. So that is unethical. The bane of the small businesses that I come across every week in this country is the complexity and cost of compliance. This bill if it were to proceed would be another layer of red tape. People do not mind complying with worthwhile issues but the administrative nightmares that happen and accompany layer after layer of bureaucracy are what people get turned off by in the first instance. It is purely administrative. Further administrative costs are signalled where the bill requires employers to send wage time and gender records for each employee to the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment for publication. This sort of data is already being collected.To be frank this bill seems nice on the outside it is wrapped up in a pretty bow but when you actually get into it under the surface there are a lot of fishhooks. There is no refined detail. The process is not well-thought-out in places to ensure that a fair and equitable process would result. The bill is out of touch and it is late to the play because the Government has already made legislative changes in initiatives that go towards addressing some of the contributors to the gender pay gap. Without question this issue cannot be solved overnight. But this Government is actively working to ensure it is being progressed in the appropriate manner. It is this Government that is delivering tangible solutions that are being felt by women in workforces right across New Zealand.This Government is leading the work to reduce the gender pay gap in the public sector and it is encouraging employers to address this issue in the private sector. We are not hiding the gender pay gap and we are not pretending it does not exist. The State Services Commission recently introduced the annual publication of gender pay statistics for all Public Service departments. The publication of statistics like these enhances transparency and helps us figure out where we need to be looking next in order to mitigate the situation. Yes the statistics are not the best; in fact some of them are galling. However the State Services Commission is intent on providing the right information in a timely manner to all agencies to help them understand and address the drivers of the gender pay gap in order to mitigate and reduce the effects of it.New Zealand has an absolute rock star of a Minister for Women in our Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett. Our Minister is an advocate for women. Every day she is out there encouraging supporting and endorsing women. She takes this portfolio—and recognises its upmost importance—into all of her other portfolios including State services and police. The Government introduced legislative changes including extending the right to request flexible working arrangements to all employees and reducing barriers to employment for women looking for a greater work-life balance. This actually does not apply to just women; it applies to men just as well.We also introduced the Keeping in Touch" provision to paid parental leave for parents taking this leave. This increases women's access to career development opportunities. The Government is also updating the Equal Pay Act to ensure it is better equipped to provide guidance to pay-equity claims and can provide a practical and fair process for employees to follow if they feel they are not being paid what their job is worth due to gender discrimination. Exposure of the draft of the Employment (Pay Equity and Equal Pay) Bill has been released for public consultation to ensure that the wording in the legislation is clear and workable for employers and employees. Consultation closes tomorrow on Thursday 11 May. So legislation will be planned to be introduced.The Government set up a joint working party on pay equity last year made up of representatives from unions and business to come up with a process and set out a set of principles for resolving pay equity. The pay equity bill is a step towards closing the gender pay gap and ensuring that the female-dominated industries are paid fairly. It reflects this Government's commitment to working for New Zealanders. The Ministry for Women has commissioned research on the causes for the gap for women which is assisting the ministry to understand the potential further actions it needs to take to reduce the pay gap for women on different incomes. Research found that 80 percent of the gender pay gap is unexplained. This shows that factors such as differences in behaviours and choices between men and women are driving the majority of trends in the current national gender pay gap.The Ministry for Women monitors the Government's target of 45 percent women's representation on State sector boards and committees and Minister Bennett has announced that the Government met the target in December 2016.While given this platform I want to acknowledge out there in rural and provincial New Zealand the women who are working on farms. I would like to acknowledge Hayley Hoogendyk who as recently as last weekend was the first woman to take out the "farm manager of the year" at the Dairy Industry Awards. She is 28 years old and she manages a 600-cow property. She is breaking down barriers and she is breaking through ceilings. The reason I give you that message is that we need to study where these women are coming from and what they are doing to bridge the gap so that we can actually help all women do it and so that it is targeted and focused. I clearly oppose the introduction of this bill. Thank you."