Mackey Moana: Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Mackey Moana: Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:654;Page:3684] 
MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 I am happy to take a call on this very important part. This is an indication of why it is so important that we spend time in this Chamber reviewing what this legislation actually does. It is being rammed through. It is not going through the select committee process whereby members of the public can come along and have their say and whereby parliamentarians can look clause by clause at the nitty-gritty of the legislation to make sure that something has not slipped through that would have an unintended consequence or an intended consequence that the people of Auckland do not want. We have found one of those here which concerns paid parental leave. 
We know that the Government does not like paid parental leave. It was a dead rat that Government members had to swallow because they knew that taking it away would be too unpopular. But we have here legislation that removes the right of women who work at these councils to have their paid parental leave entitlement carried over in the transitional period. What will happen is that whenever this legislation passes basically the eight elected councils in Auckland as they are known today will cease to exist. They will cease to exist as employers and we will move to a transitional arrangement up until the next local body elections. Because the employer is to change it means that unless we put in this very simple amendment to make it clear that there is no intention to stop the paid parental leave entitlement those women will lose their entitlement. I ask the Minister in the chair the Hon Judith Collins whether the Government will be supporting this amendment. 
There are two options here: this situation is the result of either a conspiracy or a cock-up. Usually in such cases there has been a cock-up; that is the reality. If it is a conspiracy it means that in an underhand back-door way the Government is using this process to undermine paid parental leave. If we go with the alternative point of view which is that this is just a cock-up then the Government should have no problem in supporting a very simple amendment to clarify it is not intended that women who work for these local authorities will lose their paid parental leave entitlement. I will be watching very carefully to see what the Government does with regard to this particular amendment. 
We know that Government members will not take any calls apart from closure motions unless they suddenly decide there is a procedural reason why they need to start filibustering on their own legislation. I hope Colin King makes another fantastic speech on this issue. The Labour Party cannot wait to put his speech on Maori representation on its blog Red Alert as the only National speech on Maori representation. That will be fantastic. I am looking forward to Mr Colin King taking a call on this particular amendment. 
The amendment is very very simple. It states: “Nothing in this Act shall affect the rights and entitlements of any employee of any territorial authority under the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987.” If members of this Committee have no problem with regard to the women of Auckland who work for these local authorities keeping their paid parental leave provisions then they will support this amendment. If the National Party and the ACT Party are genuinely trying to undermine paid parental leave—and they are well on record as not liking it—then they will oppose it. This will be a very very interesting vote. Mr Brownlee the Leader of the House looks like he is poised to jump up. He has been trying to make out that everything that is going through this House has been frivolous. That is not the case. We have had to buy time to actually look at what this legislation does. We have said to Mr Brownlee that if the Government sends the bill to a select committee he can go home now. If Government members send it to a select committee the debate will end. But they will not do that because they do not want the people of Auckland to find out about things like this fish-hook which says paid parental leave would be undermined. 
I say it is the job of a good Opposition to scrutinise the law. Let us not forget that every minute that we spend in this Chamber debating this legislation is another minute that Aucklanders continue to be run by their democratically elected councils and not the unelected anti-democratic bureaucracy that Mr Brownlee Mr Hide and Mr John Key want to put in charge in Auckland. I think that is reason enough for us to be here today debating this part. I look forward to Mr Gerry Brownlee’s speech. Maybe we will see for the first time the Government being rolled and in desperation having to support a Labour Party amendment because Gerry is on the job.