SpeechHon MEKA WHAITIRI (Minister of Customs): E Te Māngai o te Whare tēnā koe otirā ki ngā mema katoa o te Whare tēnā tātou. [Greetings Madam Speaker and greetings to all the members of the House.]Wow—it's a great day. It's an absolutely great day. Pleased to take a call on the Fair Pay Agreements Bill on behalf of my constituents of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti of which my auntie—and I come from a long line of freezing workers who always told me that the freezing workers were the backbone of Aotearoa New Zealand. I'm proud to take a call on a bill that continues the modernisation of our industrial relations employment standards in Aotearoa New Zealand. We are 2022 not 1991. So I am pleased. Can I acknowledge the work of the Minister Michael Wood and his advisory group in getting this bill before us. It's unfortunate that we've had two very senior members on that side roll out the same old argument—anti-union". They didn't address the issue around productivity and lifting wages and valuing staff and workers in the employment space—none of that. I listened intently to two very senior members—nothing. It's a travesty that they actually haven't understood the bill or come to this House and put up ideas around how they would lift productivity how they would lift wages and how they would respect workers in the workplace because this is exactly what this bill intends to do. Look another story I want to talk about in my acknowledgment of my freezing works whakapapa was pre-1991 where there were national awards. Everybody in my household from my father to my mother to my siblings to my first cousins to my auntie all worked in the freezing works and were part of the national awards. What happened in those times was productivity was very very high. Wages were very very high. In fact people bought their homes by merely working in the freezing works because that enabled them to look after their families. Communities were born out of national awards. The participation of employees on behalf of their unions derived benefit in the homes of the people that this bill is acknowledging. For too long that side have ignored the contribution of our workers across the nation in the fabric of this country. That's why I'm standing in support of something that gives hope to many of our workers be they freezing workers be they shearing gangs our cleaners or our front-line workers who have done it extremely tough in the last two and a half years. This bill is sending a signal to them that they matter that we on this side care for them. But also the involvement of those progressive employers who continue to do the right thing by their employees—and I'm talking about the living wage and the fact that they are acknowledging the contribution. Has the sky fallen in for those employers—has the sky fallen in? No the sky does not fall in when you are doing a fundamental piece of legislation that looks after a key component of businesses and workplaces up and down this country and it is in this Fair Pay Agreements Bill. Of course it's the first reading but it's interesting to hear that side—and I'm hoping that the following speakers on the Opposition side will actually come to the party will come to the debate on how their side will address productivity and wage lift and how they will protect the roles of their workers. In fact the former speaker talked about "It's already happening"—it's already happening. Mr Goldsmith talked about voluntary unionism. These are slogans. They're not ideas of how you are going to lift productivity and wages and look after and treat workers fairly in this country. They haven't offered that. Their two key speakers have not done that. So my message to the ones that are following: get up and say what you would do so that when we take this bill out for full consultation people will actually see what this side what the Government is putting up and by comparison what that side is putting up. Rubbishing unions and rubbishing that "It's already happening" and keeping flexible labour market practice—and we know for many employees they do not have a voice. They do not have the ability to sit across from their employer and bargain a deal that's in their best interests. What's happened to the collective responsibility? We've seen this during COVID where the nation has come together as one to look after each other. But what we hear on that side: no it's up to the individual. If you've got a stronger bigger voice than anyone else you're likely to get a better deal. But what about the many who do not have that ability? What happens to their rights and their ability to advocate—"Well if you give that deal for that person why can't I get that deal?" What is wrong with sharing a collective agreement that all workers in the workplace benefit from? So this bill is attempting to do that by putting minimum provisions during the negotiation—[Interruption] There you go. We've got an ACT member yapping over there. I'm looking forward to ACT's contribution to this debate. I want to particularly hear what they are going to do around lifting productivity and wages. I bet you it'll be some empty slogans that are in my view lazy around the lack of research into what this bill is actually doing.So I'm proud to be on this side of the House who put our workers at the forefront of a modern industrial employment system here in Aotearoa New Zealand. It is well overdue. It is to return the ability to acknowledge that national awards pre-1991—and I've got to say for my sins I was actually working in the Department of Labour as a very young—yes I might have been 10; OK I was a bit older. In the Department of Labour we actually had to do the policy work on the Employment Contracts Act. I can tell you that many many of my colleagues were very upset that we were changing and decentralising the system out and the flexibility. To my analysis for the time I remained at that department it did not lift productivity. In fact it spiralled many many workers up and down this country with the introduction of the Employment Contracts Act.But here we are. It's a better day. It's a new day. We're now in 2022 and we are acknowledging the Fair Pay Agreements Bill in this first reading. I too look forward to it going to select committee. I too want to give the message to all those employers and employees: please take the time to read the bill. Don't listen to the easy slogans that the Oppositions are throwing at it. Have a look at the bill. See yourself in it. See the benefits it will derive your business as well as your staff and workers that work in the workplace because this is what this bill does. I'm really pleased like I said to belong to a party that does put the people at the forefront but I too want to add my support in the economic development space that we need to have a modern workforce that acknowledges not only the cost of the labour to do the job but also the value around discretionary effort. When you go into a workplace where you are valued not just in terms of what you get in your weekly pay packet but when the practice and the values of that employment and that employer values you as a person you will always go the extra mile—you will always go that extra mile. We have not valued discretionary effort and the contribution it makes in the economic sense of that business. It's now time that for some of us on this side we talk about and acknowledge the discretionary effort and the value it returns to the business to the employer at the end of the day. It's a great day. I'm proud to stand in support and I commend the Fair Pay Agreements Bill to the House."