Hughes Darren: Remuneration Authority Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Hughes Darren: Remuneration Authority Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 24 November 2009. Volume:659;Page:8276. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon DARREN HUGHES (Labour) 
: 
 I rise to follow the Minister of Labour in supporting the Remuneration Authority Amendment Bill at its second reading. In a sense events have overtaken this bill since the time that it was thought of by—[ 
Interruption 
] If any member deserves no pay rise I am hearing from one right now: Tau Henare. He does not work hard enough even for the pay we currently get let alone for any future increase in that particular respect. So hopefully we will hear no more from him during the rest of the non-partisan debate we are currently partaking in. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: If it’s non-partisan just go for it! 
Hon DARREN HUGHES 
: Well if it was non-partisan the member should not have interjected but it takes him a wee while to connect the logic of all his particular arguments in that respect. 
Since the time that the need for this bill became clear the Remuneration Authority has already recommended a zero pay increase for members of Parliament. That discussion began at the start of the year when the leaders of both major parties suggested that restraint be shown during the time of the economic recession and during a period in which many New Zealanders have been losing their jobs. The suggestion was beefed up when the Leader of the Opposition Mr Goff suggested that an amendment to the Remuneration Authority Act might be required to ensure that the authority could recommend a determination that would give effect to what Parliament wanted. The current legislation that the authority has to rule under does not give it that tool to do so. This House passed a motion but it was more of a signal rather than any decent legislative effect in terms of the authority’s work. However the nature of this bill is a very simple amendment to encourage the authority to take adverse economic conditions into account. It does not bind the authority in any way at all but it asks the authority to consider the state of the wider economy. We think that is a very important thing for it to do. 
Members of Parliament receive salaries as do the other positions that the Minister of Labour referred to that are under the purview of the authority are much much higher than those of many other ordinary New Zealanders. In fact the average wage in our country is a little over a third of what members of Parliament receive and it is important for us during periods such as we are in at the present time to be able to show some leadership. However we would hate for it to be taken that absolutely everybody who works for the State sector should have to take that approach because many people who are employed by the State receive very very low wages. This bill affects people who are paid much higher than other members of the community. 
This is a second reading debate; therefore it is appropriate to reflect on the work of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee. That will not take too long because it was a very brief select committee report in part because of the few number of submissions that were received by the committee. In fact I believe that it heard from only two submitters who spoke orally to their submissions both of whom were in favour of the bill. Labour members will have one or two comments to make during the Committee stage but the bill will proceed through because it enjoys wide support across the House.