Andersen GinnyHon GINNY ANDERSEN (Labour): Thank you very much Madam Chair. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to this new clause. I think it's really important. I'd like to highlight the importance of this addition to essentially enable an employee who has been dismissed unfairly under a trial period to be reinserted to provide that ability in the Employment Relations Act.One of the main reasons that this is important is that those most vulnerable workers which we know through the information we've received in the public domain there was leaked Cabinet advice which specifically indicated that Māori Pasifika rangatahi and disabled were made—that directly impacts in terms of workers' rights. So we've seen two lots of legislation through this Chamber. In both instances it is the most vulnerable workers that are actually impacted upon. So it's really essential when we are making sure that we get this right—and I think it is most definitely not right—that we look at if you are essentially taking away and removing the ability from an employee to have a personal grievance within the first three months of their employment it is essential that we go through and look at all of the possibilities of where that can be taken advantage of.This unfairly further tips the balance in favour of the employer and disadvantages employees. It will mean that those people will be discriminated against whether they be working mothers whether they be Maōri whether they be Pasifika—it is those people who we know through research through the analysis we've taken that are those ones that are taken advantage of through the employment process. In order to protect the rights of those people who need it the most in New Zealand it is fundamentally important that we take real consideration of my proposed amendment.So in section 103 following (k) to insert a new (l) that employee has been dismissed unfairly under a trial period. That means you cannot legislate away workers' rights. So by enabling that provision to be in place if there is discrimination in the workplace under a 90-day period it rightly reinstates workers' rights to be able to stand up and say that that was an unfair dismissal. It really bothers me. It gets to the core of the reason why a lot of the people are here today in politics and in this place is because we stand up and fight for those people who don't have a voice in this place—for those people who aren't employers who don't own a business who don't run a company and who are dependent upon a good strong working relationship in order to put food on their table each week and to be able to pay the rent. What concerns me most dearly is that the erosion of workers' rights by taking away the very ability to bring a personal grievance after being dismissed will mean increased unemployment will mean that children are in homes where there is not food. It will mean that it brings down our common standards of how we treat each other. And it fails to recognise that we are an interconnected community. We are part of the same country and if we turn our backs on the workers then that will mean in the long run New Zealand is worse off.So I think it is inherently important that we reinstate basic rights by enabling this new provision to be reinserted within the Employment Relations Act to enable those people who are dismissed and feel that they have the right to bring a personal grievance against their employer they should be able to do that. My question to the Minister is: how do you justify stripping away the most fundamental right which is if someone has been discriminated against in their workplace and has been subsequently dismissed then they—what is the reason or what is the benefit to New Zealand by nullifying those fundamental workers' rights?