Upston LouiseHon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō): I'm very pleased to stand and speak in this first reading of the Equal Pay Amendment Bill and say that the National Party will be supporting this legislation in the first reading and on its way to select committee. I do have to just put on record that this is the third attempt in a less number of years: firstly with the legislation that was proposed by the Hon Michael Woodhouse and then a very similar bill proposed by Denise Lee as a member's bill. So I have to express at the outset some frustration in the delays. When the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety spoke he did refer to the joint working group that was set up by the previous National Government and in effect the work was continued with the joint working group mark 2 if you like. I think it's really important because the work that was started in 2015 really was quite historic in terms of having the tripartite group of Government unions and business working very closely together to come up with agreed principles. And I want to come back to that shortly.I do want to say though that legislation of this type—and as I say this is the third attempt at it—is a step towards achieving pay equity and that is a significant contribution to reducing even further the gender pay gap. This has been a focus of the previous Government as well as the current Government. That is an area we absolutely agree on. So we have a gender pay gap currently of 9.2 percent. The more it goes downwards the better. This will not solve all of the problems of the gender pay gap but it will provide a significant next step.The other sorts of things that do make a difference because women's participation in the workforce is growing at 65.9 percent—absolutely fantastic to see the participation rate that high but we've absolutely got to make sure that structural barriers to them performing well and being adequately rewarded for their efforts are also removed. As my colleague the Hon Nikki Kaye said it is far broader than just legislation. So for those who are listening to this debate the bad news is that legislation of this type although it's important is still only a small part of the broader issues that affect women's participation and their ability to fully and equally participate in the workforce. So I just wanted to make sure that was on record.Some of the practical things that have been done in our time in office are very simple things like the right of every worker to request flexible work. I will just put in a plea for the Government to ensure that any further industrial relations changes make sure that the gains for women and participating in the workplace are not eroded and there are no unintended consequences for women in those employment relations changes. Another part—again it sounds quite simple but the ability to have keeping-in-touch days while women and men are on paid parental leave. Just the very ability to stay connected to their workforce has shown really great results in being able to stay connected and ease their return to the workplace.I do want to talk though as others in this debate on Equal Pay Amendment Bill have spoken about the equal pay settlement: the $2 billion pay equity settlement for aged-care workers. I don't think there would be anyone in New Zealand that would have disagreed with the fact that aged-care workers were absolutely not getting paid what they were worth so the accolades have been flowing today for Kristine Bartlett and those that supported her—her union. The one thing I do want to say though is that that was an incredibly long and arduous process. So what we do want to see through the select committee process is I'm really hopeful that we will have the ability to pass legislation that means no one else no other woman will have to go through the type of battle that Kristine Bartlett did. But that $2 billion that came into effect on 1 July last year raised the incomes of 55000 women—55000 women benefited from that settlement. For some of them that was a pay increase of 15 percent. For others it was up to 50 percent.So when I expressed earlier in my contribution my frustration at the delay in passing legislation around pay equity—that's 18 months that women of New Zealand have not had the opportunity to be paid what they are worth. Every one of those days in the last 18 months whether they got a 15 percent increase or a 50 percent pay increase that would have made an enormous difference for them for their families and for their communities. So I just have to put on record that I accept that an incoming Government didn't agree with everything in the previous legislation but the reality is that when you compare it there's actually not a lot different. There's not a lot different. So there would have been ways to ensure that working women of New Zealand didn't have to wait as long as they have. Unfortunately it's going to be a while before this legislation is passed so they will be waiting even longer.I do want to say that the Government have recently agreed—Oranga Tamariki has also settled their pay equity claim. That's a 30 percent increase over a two-year period and that will have a significant impact on them. The issue though that I do want to just put on record is that I'm hopeful the Government is considering the flow-on effect. So it's fantastic for Oranga Tamariki workers—absolutely brilliant. They deserve it. It's a pay equity claim and 30 percent will make an enormous difference to them. But what I do urge the Government to look at is what the impact is on others providing social services those who work in non-government organisations or NGOs who will struggle to adjust to that. So I am hopeful that the Government is considering what that means what that means for the thousands of New Zealanders—a large number of them are women—who work in those sectors to ensure that they also have the ability to be paid what they are worth.Of course when we talk about women being paid what they are worth this is not equal pay this discussion. It is not the same pay for the same job; it is the same pay for a job of equal value and that's pay equity. I do want to say having been involved in the early years on this particularly important piece of legislation—I do want to give my thanks to the joint working group members and those who joined for mark 2 of that joint working group.I also want to pay tribute to officials particularly in the Ministry for Women. Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment officials and others have been involved but the Ministry for Women is a small agency. On this particular piece of legislation they've had a significant influence. They've worked incredibly tirelessly on it and they've always brought a very different perspective to the table and I want to put on record my thanks for their work on this legislation.As I say National is pleased to support it to the first reading. I would encourage businesses unions and workers to make sure that their views are heard in the select committee. The select committee is a critical opportunity to improve the legislation. So we are optimistic that some of the areas that we have concerns about currently—one is making sure that any additional factors into this whether it's the comparators whether it's the back-pay don't actually make it harder for employees who are currently undervalued to access pay equity and to be successful in their claims. So if there's a message I can send the Government: please make sure it is accessible please make sure it is practical that it is easily understood by both employees and employers and make sure there are not people who are fed into a process where they wouldn't have success and waste a lot of time and energy on the way through.I am pleased to support this Equal Pay Amendment Bill in the first reading and I look forward to my colleagues' hard work in the select committee.