Brown Peter: Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Brown Peter: Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:621;Page:16493] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 I have to say that when members from the Government leap up and make that statement—and it is about all that they say—it tends to irk. The longest speech that has come from the Government on this whole bill was when David Cunliffe stood up and complained that he should be in that seat in order to heckle people. That was the longest speech made by a Government member all night. If the issue were not so serious that would be funny. One thing that concerns New Zealand First is the comment made by the Minister on page 3 of the commentary on the bill—if members would like to even read it. I will read out the second paragraph which states: “Policy development relating to the self-employed is a very high priority for me and I am committed to progressing this issue further in the near future to include self-employed parents as far as practicable.” That is a very good positive statement but not one Government member and not one Minister can stand up and tell us when that will happen. 
Hon Taito Phillip Field 
: You guys can read it. 
PETER BROWN 
: I respect the honourable member because he usually makes sense when he says things. Part 2 comes in on 1 December 2005. Will the matter of the self-employed be addressed by then? Are we not entitled to know that? Will self-employed people have their problems addressed by then? Why does the Minister in the chair Marian Hobbs not take a call and tell us how long they will have to wait? 
My colleague Judy Turner is the only person from what one could call the Government coalition who has made a contribution tonight on any part of the bill. She became obsessed with eating chunks of elephants from time to time. I do not know why she does not have indigestion because her colleagues certainly got out of here with indigestion. I say to her and to the Greens that if they had wanted to support the self-employed they should have stuck with us on that issue in Bill Gudgeon’s amendment. If they had said they would not pass the bill without having the self-employed included we could have won that and done something for the people of this country who work their backs off. The situation we have here is ridiculous. It is ridiculous that a young woman who earns $200000 a year—[ 
Interruption 
] I do not want to get into people’s personal life—and who has shares in the biggest company in the country will get paid parental leave. But the farmer or the little self-employed guy down the block gets zilch—absolutely nothing. United Future and the Greens could have said they would hold off on the elephant for a little bit longer while they forced that amendment through and got the self-employed covered by the bill. 
I return to the title of the bill which should be the “Unfair Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Bill”. It is totally unfair. I believe the bill is so unfair that Government members should be hanging their heads in shame. They are almost doing that. They will not take a call; they cannot defend the position they have adopted. I think that Phillip Taito Field is going to stand up. I have read with interest what the membersof the Social Services Committee have stated but not one of them has said boo except for the Hon Judith Tizard who stood up and said we should close the whole thing down because it was getting to be an embarrassment. This is pretty poor democracy. Those members should be ashamed. They should be on their feet and telling us whether the self-employed will be covered by legislation of this sort before 1 December next year. It states here that that issue will be addressed this year. This year has nearly run out; it is November now. Members are shaking their heads. They do not even know what they stand for. They just put their hands up— 
Judy Turner 
: They don’t join a union. 
PETER BROWN 
: I want to listen to Judy Turner because I think she feels ashamed of this bill now. I know she is a person with a conscience. I know she is prepared to put the elephant aside in order to really have a go for the self-employed and address the issue properly.