Bennett Paula: General Debate 
Bennett Paula: General Debate 
[Volume:652;Page:1853] 
Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 Let us make no mistake; this National Government is focusing on what matters. We face some of the toughest times we have had in a very long time and some of our older people will remember the effects of a global downturn. They got through it by banding together as families as communities and as Kiwis. We can get through this downturn as well but it requires decisive action. It requires a Prime Minister like John Key and it requires decisive action from our leaders at all levels of society. We are worried about our young people who will find it harder to enter the workforce but at the moment we fear most for the hard-working low-income Kiwis who are supporting families through these hard times. 
Although the previous Government sat around hand-wringing and talking about capacity building—which I must say when I look at the bureaucracy around it I now think meant empire building—this Government is getting on with concentrating on the action that is needed. Only a few weeks after the Job Summit—in fact less than 2—this Government is working quickly because every day that we hesitate more jobs are unfortunately lost. New Zealanders are already feeling the economic squeeze. Employers are holding off on making decisions while they look at just developing policy. We have wasted no time in putting the job support scheme in place because people need to know about it now. This is the first initiative to come out of the Job Summit. It will be available from 27 March which is exactly 1 month after the Prime Minister’s Job Summit. 
Let me give members some details of the scheme. It is for those businesses that have 100 or more employees and about 1600 companies that will fit into that category. They employ around 580000 people. As I said it will be available from 27 March 2009 through to December 2010. A business can be in the scheme only for a period of 6 months and it can be in it only once. The subsidy is paid directly to employers to pass on to employees because we already have a mechanism for it to be done and the actual intention was to try to keep the administration down where we could. 
A voluntary agreement must be agreed between employers and employees that they will reduce work hours by up to a maximum of 10 hours a fortnight. There also needed to be a ratio between those whom employers were looking at making redundant and the number of people who were in on the scheme so we have made that a 1:10 ratio. Companies need to stand up and say they are looking at making 10 people redundant say why they are looking at that and say that as a consequence of that 100 people have come to a voluntary agreement to reduce their hours. That will bring down the wages bill for the company and hopefully get it through a temporary tough time so it can then pull itself out of it. The scheme provides the breathing space that is needed in these tough economic times. 
We anticipate that 20000 to 25000 workers will take up this scheme. That does not mean that as many as that were necessarily going to be made redundant—as I say we are looking at a ratio of 1:10—but that number is pretty hard to get to. We are not exactly sure how many workers are going to come into the scheme. It will work with some businesses and not others and I think that is really important to know. We do not think that this scheme is the fix-all for all businesses and for all workers who are out there trying to survive and unfortunately some jobs will still be lost. We have to be realistic; this scheme will not save every job. It is never going to be enough but we have to do our bit. Workers will still face a cut in their income and that is a reality. But that is better than not being in a job at all and that is what this Government is focusing on trying to avoid. 
I read a quote from Helen Kelly today who said “We are very pleased to see the practical discussions … turn into real policy so quickly”. As I have said every day that we hesitated another job was lost and this Government needed to work quickly. 
Sue Bradford 
: What will the workers be doing during the 5 hours? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: One of our colleagues asks what the workers will be doing in the 5 hours that the Government is paying them for and the answer is whatever they come to an agreement with their employer about. This Government puts no conditions on what employees will be doing in the 5 hours. So they could have the day off and go and spend it with their children at their school.