Fenton Darien: Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFenton Darien: Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 17 April 2013. Volume:689;Page:9461. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DARIEN FENTON (Labour): It is with great pleasure that I speak in the third reading of the Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill. My only regret is that its sponsor Dr David Clark is not here to see it pass through this third reading. I want to send my congratulations to him in America as I know indeed Grant Robertson and all of the Labour caucus do on the great work he has done on this member’s bill. I am also acknowledging the role that Grant Robertson has played but it has been a Labour effort actually. We have all worked hard to see through a change that actually does change life for the better for working people.It is not often that that happens and it certainly never happens under a National Government so this is a special day. This is a very special day considering that we have had 5 years of attacks on workers’ rights. Those attacks have included a foolish dependence on being able to sack people within 90 days without reasonable justification as a job creation measure a minimum wage that has increased by only $5.60 a week or just 14c an hour in real terms over the 5 years since National became the Government and cuts to the wages of young people that come into effect on—guess which day? On 1 May—International Workers’ Day. There is a wonderful reward for young people the hard-working young people of the country on International Workers’ Day 1 May!There is more to come. We know the legislation is heading our way. The employment law changes are coming. And—you know what—the Government is even going to cut workers’ tea and meal breaks. It is even going to make cuts to the tea break the smokers’ break—the smoko break. Hard-working New Zealanders have been forgotten by this Government. It cannot even bring itself to support what it knows in its heart of hearts is the right thing to do. It is the right thing to do.We have heard some interesting arguments through the passage of this bill but one that has been canvassed at length by the National Party is that it undermines the special nature of Anzac Day. Anzac Day on 25 April has been a holiday since 1921. It was first gazetted as a half-day holiday in 1916. But back then a holiday meant a real holiday. It meant a real day off like Sundays used to be when no shops were open—Hon Trevor Mallard: Even Saturdays.DARIEN FENTON: —even Saturdays that is right—the pubs were shut the local dairy was closed and the buses did not run. That is what it used to be like.A lot has changed through the last hundred years. There have been several amendments to the Holidays Act and there have been several amendments to the Anzac Day Act and the Waitangi Day Act. Annual leave and public holidays have been increased without the vote of the National Party of course—without its support. But also what has changed is that more workers are now expected to work on public holidays. So while the pubs and shops are still closed on Anzac Day morning—it is only until 1 o’clock whereas once it was the whole day—on Waitangi Day it is a free-for-all so everything is open. Meanwhile despite the changes support for Anzac Day as a day of commemoration has built over time and people’s understanding of the importance of Waitangi Day has also increased. Nothing in this bill will change that.Anzac Day will still be on 25 April. Dawn Services will still be held. Large crowds will still turn up to services and parades throughout the country. I will attend and remember my father and grandfather who fought in World War I and World War II. Anzac Day will still be observed as a holiday on that day regardless of which day of the week it is and people who work on that day—and many do—will be paid time and a half and they will get a different day off with pay. Waitangi Day has a much more recent history but its significance as a day of celebration and commemoration on 6 February will also remain the same in the same way Anzac Day will.But to take the National Party’s argument to its logical extension nobody in this country should be able to work on Anzac Day or Waitangi Day because those days are just too sacred. But during this debate I have not heard one word of concern from the National Party for the thousands of workers who have to work on Anzac Day and Waitangi Day.There has been not one word of recognition that many workers do not get a holiday at all and that for them Anzac Day and Waitangi Day are already on different days—not one word from the National Party. There has been not one word of ownership of the petty and distrustful extension of employer power that the National Government introduced in 2010 where employers can transfer Anzac Day and Waitangi Day to a different day without the consent of workers—not one word of concern from the National Party about this. Instead there has been a whole lot of sanctimonious concern that somehow having a holiday having these days Mondayised 1 year in 7—2 days out of every 7 years—is going to undermine the sanctity the sacredness of Anzac Day. The National Government brought in legislation in 2010 that allows employers to decide when Anzac Day falls or Waitangi Day falls and allows employers to decide when workers get the days off. Anzac Day for them can be any day other than 25 April. Waitangi Day for them can be any day other than 6 February.So let us face it for thousands of workers in New Zealand there is no Anzac Day or Waitangi Day. It is meaningless and for this Government to argue that this bill undermines those holidays is quite frankly—a word that I am not allowed to use. The National Government has done away with Anzac Day and Waitangi Day for them and now it has been crying crocodile tears. Simon O’Connor was the best—10 minutes of reading from the diary of a World War I soldier. Unbelievable. Yet it was the National Government’s legislation in 2010 that means that those 2 days just do not exist for many workers. They work on the days and they get other days off that the employer decides on. Anzac Day and Waitangi Day can be any days that the employer has decided on.Andrew Little: It’s worse if they’re an independent contractor.DARIEN FENTON: Yes of course—there are some people who get no holidays like independent contractors and that is another story.Then we have had all the arguments around cost. David Bennett made a bit of a feeble attempt at it. I cannot accept that New Zealand is in such a bad state that our businesses are so so hard up that this will send businesses broke as the Government has claimed even to the extent of using its dodgy figures. It is far more honest to just accept and own up to the fact that it does not want workers to have more holidays. Employer organisations like the Employers and Manufacturers Association were very honest with us. When we asked the association whether it had ever supported more holidays it at least owned up in the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee and said no it has never supported 4 weeks never supported extra holidays—just like the National Government.Then as support has gathered for this bill John Key has tried to do this “What me worry?” routine—“The world’s not going to end.” I think the Government is now embarrassed that it opposed this bill. It knows that it is on the wrong side of public opinion. It knows it cannot justify its opposition because it has already changed the law to undermine the special nature of Waitangi Day and Anzac Day. I believe that the Government knows in its heart of hearts that this bill is the right thing to do. It is a sensible bill. Kiwis know this is a fair deal. This is a great day for Kiwi workers. This is a great day for Dr David Clark. It is wonderful to see a Labour bill that will advance things for New Zealand workers in this House again. In 2014 there will be a lot more when we are the Government.