Worth Richard: Employment Relations (Breaks and Infant Feeding) Amendment Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Worth Richard: Employment Relations (Breaks and Infant Feeding) Amendment Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:649;Page:18183] 
Dr RICHARD WORTH (National) 
: 
 This Employment Relations (Breaks and Infant Feeding) Amendment Bill is important legislation because as the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee noted it was all about amending the Employment Relations Act in a very specific and defined way. That very specific and defined way was to require employers to provide employees with meal and rest breaks and with appropriate facilities and breaks for those who wished to breastfeed or to express breast milk. I must say that when I first saw the bill I saw that it would support Government policy by protecting and promoting breastfeeding. It was also planned that the provisions regarding breastfeeding would be supported by a code of employment practice. Who could argue against that? So it was that the bill saw speedy passage through the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee having been introduced as recently as 2 April 2008. It had a first reading only 7 days later after which it was sent off to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee for review. 
The bill is a very short amendment bill which in fact contains just two parts. But of course as others have said and properly said we are seeing a moment sadly in the life of this Labour-led Government of substantive abuse of process and on some basis that is not clear to members on this side of the Chamber we are seeing that the Employment Relations (Breaks and Infant Feeding) Amendment Bill is to be hugely expanded in scope to deal with some quite subtle issues around KiwiSaver. I have listened to the Hon Trevor Mallard castigate Kate Wilkinson a lawyer of substantial history knowledge and learning on something that in constitutional law terms is incredibly offensive—that is the weaving into legislation of a highly specific character significant and substantive changes to the KiwiSaver regime that are singularly inappropriate. I am now directly addressing Supplementary Order Paper 229 which is directly related to the substantive bill and I ask when the Government conceived this great plan. When did it alert the Opposition to its plan to broaden the scope of the legislation in the way I have just described? Well it was as recently as Tuesday 2 September 2008—as recently as today. But that cannot be a source of satisfaction for a Government and that cannot be a source of pride for a Government; it should be a source of disgrace and shame. 
What is going on here? What is going on here in this Supplementary Order Paper referenced to the particular part of the bill we are now dealing with? Well the amendments made by the Supplementary Order Paper relating to the KiwiSaver scheme and complying superannuation funds are to come into force on the day after the date on which the bill receives the Royal assent. And we are now seeing new provisions grafted on to this bill to add a further purpose which is to make it a ground for a personal grievance for an employee’s employment to be adversely affected because he or she is a member of the KiwiSaver scheme or a complying superannuation fund. People might wonder how this is properly related to the Employment Relations (Breaks and Infant Feeding) Amendment Bill. The short position is that it is not. I hope that the Minister in the chair the Hon Trevor Mallard will explain if he can in a way that is measured and reasonable and constitutionally based how appropriate it is—for it scarcely is—for this particular event to confront us on what is a day of shame for this Government.