Dean Jacqui; Uffindell Sam; Wood MichaelPart 10A Determinations in absence of bargaining sideCHAIRPERSON (Hon Jacqui Dean): We come now to Part 10A. This is the debate on clauses 228BA to 228Q Determinations in absence of bargaining side". The question is that Part 10A stand part.SAM UFFINDELL (National—Tauranga): Thank you very much Madam Chair. I'd like to focus on clause 228Q "Access to workplaces". I was having a bit of a look through this while we were all talking away and a lot of my colleagues were making some very good points and putting some very good questions through to the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety who I thought answered most of them pretty well as well. And we are winding up to the final part of the night so I will walk us through the access to workplaces. I note that "A representative of an employee bargaining party"—bargaining—"is entitled in accordance with this Part to enter a workplace without the employer's consent if the primary purpose of entering the workforce is to discuss with a covered employee or an employee who may be affected by an application for determination" in terms of such determination. What you're effectively doing there is saying that you can enter a workplace—there only needs to be one employee covered—if you want to go there to communicate to seek feedback or discuss the terms.Now that might sound good if you've got a big factory—and I assume that's probably what it was tabled for—or a big retail shop or whatever it may be. But the fact is that we've got a lot of small businesses in New Zealand and a lot of them are on private property. You know they're not out there in a big factory or in a shop on a mall. It may be someone's home; they may live above it. It may be a person's place. Joseph Mooney: That's right. Very good point.SAM UFFINDELL: Excellent point. But I am very concerned that this will enable people just to come through so I want to say to the Minister and ask him: what provisions have been put there to ensure that the privacy of people is protected in relation to clause 228Q? Thank you.Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety): The ability for union representatives to enter workplaces to engage with the employees is well established in the Employment Relations Act 2000 which has been in place since 2000 and its core provisions have been broadly consistent over that period. It is important in terms of the generally recognised right for people to be able to access union representation that union representatives do have that ability. It is subject to reasonable constraints and always has been. This particular clause specifically rules out access to a workplace allowing access to a dwelling house—that covers off I think some of the privacy concerns that the member has alluded to where there might be a small workplace where a home and a workplace are joined together. But fundamentally if there's not a basic right of union access to workplaces then (a) New Zealand would be in breach of many core International Labour Organisation conventions that we are signed up to and (b) it would be not possible for those employees to access reasonable support and assistance and collective bargaining rights."