Horomia Parekura: Minimum Wage and Remuneration Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Horomia Parekura: Minimum Wage and Remuneration Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:654;Page:3906] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Labour—Ikaroa-Rawhiti) 
: 
 I follow on from my learned colleague Mr Hodgson in relation to some of the realities of the minimum wage. A lot of the young lads in the Government who have just turned up in Parliament will learn after they have been here for as long as some of us have how you harden up in this place. At the end of the day their mind-sets are so narrow that they believe that they have already arrived. You mark my words tomorrow after the Budget some people will be shaking in this country—people like the 220 workers who have been laid off by the Accident Compensation Corporation tonight. People who understand the labour market well and understand the general nuances of it understand that other things flow on from imperfect management. That is what this Government is about; it does not really know what it is doing. 
Hon Shane Jones 
: Reckless! 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: It is more than reckless; it is outrageous and it is insidious. 
At the end of the day do Government members care? No. I listened to the prattling of Mr Peachey. Mr Peachey knows that when he was teaching—God forbid—teachers had a lift of nearly 18 percent in their salaries and wages. Who did that? The previous Labour Government. Let us go back to the last time that National exited the Opposition side of the Chamber and ended up over there on the Government benches. We inherited a rise in the rate of unemployment for Maori and Pacific Islanders to 21.4 percent. Mark my words that is where we are going again. Unemployment for Maori and Pacific Islanders trucked up to 26 percent. Do National members care? No. 
Chris Tremain 
: Part 2 of the bill. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: This is all relevant to Part 2 of the bill. Do they care? No. They have a great ethos of supporting businesses. 
We have a magic inherited thing from those who have generally been to Harvard and other over-endowed academics who tend to suggest— 
Hon Members 
: Own goal! 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: —no he’s a top bloke—that if increased capital is injected into failing businesses then everything will correct itself. If the market played out internationally then we would be all right and that would be true. But we have seen what has happened with regard to the subsidies in Europe and that will have an impact here. You mark my words— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: Order! 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: Oh Mr Chair— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: Also we are actually on Part 2. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: Yes well this is relevant. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: It might help if we talked about Part 2 occasionally. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: When I worked in the labour market I and Mr Tisch went around supporting small enterprises and innovation in this country. This is the goddam truth—we did that. You left this country in a mess. 
Part 2 of the Minimum Wage and Remuneration Amendment Bill in the name of our great and learned colleague Darien Fenton shows that we care about the working class. [ 
Interruption 
] Let me give you a lesson while my friend here Shane Jones is walking and talking. The bad thing about your Budget and the worst thing in relation to Part 2 is that there are now three levels of workers who are being put into unemployment. It is a sad state of affairs. Usually it is the lowest-paid—the factory workers the meat workers; all those people—who are affected. But a lot of middle-management people are getting put under. Do you care? 
I was in Hawke’s Bay the other day—and this is relevant to Part 2—and I saw a great skite in the newspaper by the real estate organisation. It was saying it has had its greatest quarter of sales for a long long time. Then I had a closer look and I saw it said there had been 35-odd mortgagee sales. That drives the employment market; that is what this is about. 
You need fair remuneration. You need fair rates of pay. Why do you not want to give them? You sit here in these pastel confines you are paid every fortnight—overpaid for that matter most of you people—and you do not even have a song in your heart to ensure that Part 2 of this bill goes well. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: The member knows that he cannot bring the Chair into the debate. On frequent occasions I have indicated that to the member. While I appreciate being mentioned occasionally I do not like to be included as part of the debate. I just remind the member that we are on Part 2. It is about minimum remuneration. Just to make it very clear I say we are talking about clauses 5 to 10 and that is what the debate should be about. The member’s time has expired.