Wilkinson Kate: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Wilkinson Kate: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 26 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5673. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon KATE WILKINSON (Minister of Labour) 
: 
 Can I just take up the challenge of that member who has just sat down David Parker when he said that we do not want to talk about jobs because I do want to talk about jobs because jobs matter. Businesses create jobs and businesses need policy settings that encourage jobs and encourage growth—policy settings around jobs—policy settings that members opposite say no to. Why do they say no to it? Why is it that their policies over there on that side of the House are not about creating jobs or helping jobs or enhancing job growth? What they are about is cutting and reducing jobs. 
Last week we celebrated Women’s Suffrage Day. It is a great day in the New Zealand calendar. We celebrated Women’s Suffrage Day and what was the very first action that the Labour Party did on that day? It had the first reading of a bill that would have immediately cut the jobs—3350 jobs—of women in New Zealand. It would have cut the jobs of 3350 women in New Zealand. That is how much it thinks of jobs and that is how much it thinks of women. By raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour in an unrealistic and unsustainable manner that would have reduced jobs and cut jobs by 5500. Why do those members say no? Why do they say no to any job-enhancing policy that we put up? They just say no. 
Dr David Clark 
: The Minister understands the minimum wage. She’s had the advice. It doesn’t cost that. 
Hon KATE WILKINSON 
: Mr Clark does not understand. His first big job in this Parliament was to introduce a bill that would have lost 3350 jobs for women and its first reading was on symbolically Women’s Suffrage Day. That is the shame of that member and that is the legacy of that member. On Women’s Suffrage Day 3350 jobs would have been lost—lost just like that by a stroke of a pen. 
We have the 90-day trial which research has shown is responsible for the creation of 13000 jobs— 
Dr Cam Calder 
: How many? 
Hon KATE WILKINSON 
: —13000 jobs. That was when it related to only small and medium sized enterprises—i.e. businesses with under 20 people. It created 13000 jobs. Since then it has been expanded to all businesses. Imagine how many jobs that will be responsible for. And what do those members say? They say no. They say no to a 90-day trial. It is part of their policy to repeal it—13000 jobs just like that all gone. They say no and they talk about jobs! 
My colleague Minister Tolley spoke about prisoners helping the rebuild of Christchurch. Well the 90-day trial is an ideal tool for businesses to have the confidence to actually employ those prisoners to help in that rebuild. What will the Labour Party do? It will say no. 
That 90-day trial is encouraging businesses to take on more staff. It has been used by many businesses. It has shown that the majority of employers keep their staff once the trial is over so that people who are on the fringes—they might be young they might be older they might be women but David Clark does not like them or they might be prisoners—are given the opportunity to get their feet on the employment ladder and get a job. It is a fantastic policy that embarrassingly Labour will repeal. It is a policy that is working really well in these tough economic times and Labour will repeal it because it wants to say no to all job-enhancing policies. I think it is a shame. 
Those members sit there smugly thinking that they have got the answers. All they want to do is say no. They stop things. They would have had  
The Hobbit  
go overseas. The  
Hobbit 
 haters would have had  
The Hobbit  
go overseas. Since then we have had  
Avatar 
 over here—1500 new jobs—and we are looking at a new sequel. Is that not fantastic for our movie market? More jobs—what do they say? They say no. 
We have some great policy settings for creating jobs and for encouraging businesses to actually expand. Successful businesses by expanding will take on more staff which means more jobs and that must be good for our economy. We are about creating jobs; they have policies that say no.