Bennett David: Employment Relations (Rest Breaks and Meal Breaks) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Bennett David: Employment Relations (Rest Breaks and Meal Breaks) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
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DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 I rise to speak on the first reading of the Employment Relations (Rest Breaks and Meal Breaks) Amendment Bill and to say that we give our full support to our very diligent and hard-working Minister of Labour. The previous speaker Trevor Mallard did not understand the nature of this legislation. He looked at it from a purely political perspective not from the practical perspective of trying to encourage New Zealanders in the workforce to do their jobs to the best of their ability and to achieve the degree of efficiency and productivity that everybody wishes to see in the workforce. 
As chairman of the great Transport and Industrial Relations Committee which will consider this bill— 
Allan Peachey 
: Outstanding. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: —it is an outstanding committee is it not—I say that we look forward to debating this bill in the committee. No doubt the Labour members of the committee who are very constructive members will be speaking later in this debate. They will assist us in the process of going through the public submissions and looking at the heart of this legislation. 
Carol Beaumont 
: Always want to hear from the public. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: Yes I know. We always want to hear from the public and that is the whole point of the submission process. But I think the public also has to have a little bit of a reality check about what the previous Government did in passing the existing legislation. 
I know that Sue Moroney my colleague across the Chamber used the existing legislation as the defining feature of her being in the previous Labour Government for its final 3 years. That legislation was the thing that she passed. It was her pride and joy. The thing is that the previous Government had to pass it under the cover of other debatable issues in the labour relations area rather than having it pass as legislation standing on its own two feet. In doing so that Government created an environment in which many political parties voted for that legislation in this House. 
Basically this legislation is looking at a real issue in a constructive way. This Government looks at one issue and we work out the solutions for it. We are not trying to hide it in a series of pieces of legislation around other issues; we will be up front let the public have their say and work through this issue. 
We need to have that flexibility in our workforce and in our employment relations for productivity and also for personal reasons. I think one thing the last speaker Trevor Mallard said that is true is that in an employment arrangement there is the need for staff—employers and employees—to come together and have that time where they mix mingle and learn from each other about what is going on in their job and their business at that point in time. This legislation will do that because we are giving more flexibility. We are not having a rigid approach that could potentially limit the ability of that relationship to develop. 
We look forward to this legislation going before the select committee. It is all about providing flexibility so that the employment arrangement can develop and foster that degree of unity amongst staff in the business and employers and so that we can achieve the best productivity and success for people working in a particular industry at a particular time. We look forward to the legislation coming before the select committee where I am sure that all members will address the questions in a very open and fair manner.