Boyack RachelRACHEL BOYACK (Labour—Nelson): I rise to take a call on the Holidays (Increasing Sick Leave) Amendment Bill. First I want to thank the Minister for introducing this bill into the House. I note that this legislation was signalled in the Labour Party's 2020 election manifesto. It was an honour to chair Labour's policy council leading into last year's election and it is wonderful to be able to stand alongside my colleagues tonight and deliver on a promise made.In New Zealand we have a culture of being staunch and toughing it out when we are sick. I recall in my 20s some of my friends proudly stating that they had never taken a sick day. It wasn't that they had never been sick; it was that they had bought into a culture that said that if you stay home when you're sick then you're somehow less productive or not as capable. I know that I've turned up to work when sick partly because of pressure on myself to complete a task or project or not wanting to appear weak. Amongst supermarket workers I often had workers concerned about letting the team down if they didn't go into work when they were sick especially at busy times of the year. This was the culture that was allowed to permeate throughout the retail industry with many workers reporting to me that they would be quizzed by their employer about why they couldn't go into work. They'd be asked for great detail about what was wrong with them. They'd be told they didn't sound sick—never mind that they might have had a serious splitting migraine or terrible period pain. They were pressured to come into work when they were sick and this used to happen an awful lot. What we saw last year with COVID was finally a recognition that when we are sick we actually need to stay home. Our culture of sucking it up has actually changed and that's a good thing. Going to work when you're sick which was once a common occurrence is no longer acceptable.In a previous speech I spoke about the lowering of sick leave levels—which my colleague Helen White has just mentioned—when people do stay home. I mentioned this little tool and I have a graph—I haven't quite figured out how to do A3 printing in this House yet. I have a little graph from the Ministry of Health's flu tracker survey. What it clearly shows is in 2019 we had very high levels of reported influenza symptoms. In 2020 when people stayed home those symptoms dropped right down. Again in 2021 because the message has got through to stay home when you're sick these rates are continuing to track along the same trajectory as last year which is a really really good thing. Our experience over the last year has shown that when people stay home it stops the spread of illnesses through workplaces on public transport in schools and supermarkets at churches mosques and synagogues and at movie theatres; and at events. Increasing sick leave provisions supports those workers who do the right thing by staying home from work when they are sick and by ensuring they don't lose income from doing so. Now the other side of the House has implied that those with dependants or of a certain age or of a certain gender may miss out on employment opportunities as a result of this law change. I remind those members opposite that that is illegal. As the Minister said during the committee stage of the bill last night on this side of the House we have a view that most employers actually strive to be good employers that they value diversity that they value the wellbeing of their employees and that they treat their employees with respect. That is the vision we have of employment in this country a vision of fairness and of good faith between employers and employees; not one where we legislate for the lowest common denominator. That's not aspirational.Some of the people bemoaning tonight that the sky is falling criticise this legislation because of the risk that some workers will treat sick leave as an entitlement and will fake their illness. Now there will always be a small group of people who abuse the good faith that their employers show them in all aspects of employment. But again we don't legislate for the lowest common denominator. There is good case law that shows that if people abuse sick leave they can justifiably be dismissed and I want to put on record tonight that that is the correct thing to do if people misuse their employment entitlements. I want to end the speech tonight by thanking all of those workers who have lobbied and campaigned for sick leave improvements for years and I want to particularly mention one of my good friends and the delegate at Pak 'N Save Richmond Jenny Wells who has lobbied hard for the workers of Pak 'N Save Richmond in my electorate of Nelson. They will in a couple of months' time be receiving 10 days' sick leave a year. This is an excellent piece of legislation. It is an overdue piece of legislation. It signifies a big improvement to minimum employment entitlements that are needed in New Zealand. The change we are making tonight shows respect for workers their families and our communities. I am delighted to commend this bill to the House.