Turner Judy: Employment Relations (Flexible Working  Arrangements) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Turner Judy: Employment Relations (Flexible Working  Arrangements) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
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JUDY TURNER (Deputy Leader—United Future) 
: 
 United Future joins with most other parties in this House to support the third reading of the Employment Relations (Flexible Working Arrangements) Amendment Bill a bill that we believe has advantages for both employees and employers. Certainly evidence from the British experience has shown that it has been a win-win situation. 
What I most like about this bill is the process that we have taken to get to the third reading. It is a stunning example of what I think all of us who are part of an MMP system and support MMP believe could and should be the case more often. I particularly commend Sue Kedgley. As the sponsor of this bill she was willing to allow it to be delayed and parked for a season so that the Department of Labour could do some ongoing work and improve the bill so that we could move it forward. 
I feel a little bit of sadness in mentioning the bill that comes straight after this one on the Order Paper tonight. The bill I refer to was a United Future initiative around private property rights. In the second reading of that bill which was interrupted many speakers talked about the fact that they could not support the bill because there were some things about it that needed to be fixed. Yet there did not seem to be the same will and collaboration to do that extra work when I know that the sponsor would have willingly allowed the bill to be parked so that it could progress. It occurs to me that it is rather interesting that we can be very picky and choosy about which bills this House will allow that work to be done on and which bills we just abandon through what feels to me at times like extreme laziness and an unwillingness to progress bills. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
JUDY TURNER 
: Before the dinner break I was talking about the process that this bill has been through and about the willingness of the sponsor and the select committee to park the bill for a season so that extensive work could be done on it by the Department of Labour. That brought about good changes. What a great example of MMP this bill has been. 
I want to focus the next part of my speech on what I think is the most important gain for New Zealanders that this bill will deliver for New Zealand families. Today’s work environment is hugely different—in fact unrecognisably different—from the work environment that my own parents lived through. For instance when there are two parents in a family both of whom are working we have a family economy based around two incomes. We have very few non-commercial days. In fact I think we are down to 3½ days in a year in which we cannot trade. We have longer working hours. New Zealanders are working longer than they did 20 or 30 years ago. We have mums and dads with preschool children using their paid parental leave and then re-entering the workforce. Parents are using day-care facilities to care for their children with the stresses and strains that that puts on parents dropping off children who are often sometimes a little bit unwell or distressed and wondering how that will go. 
The other thing that has changed considerably in New Zealand is the fact that we have moved—and rightly so—towards community-based and home-based care for the elderly and disabled. We have closed down institutions. Therefore the impact on families is greater in that regard too. The expectation that families will be more proactively engaged in the care of elderly or disabled family members is an absolute reality. This bill provides an opportunity for workers to negotiate flexible working hours where that fits comfortably with the needs of the employer. 
When I flew down to Wellington this week I sat on the plane across the aisle from a local businesswoman in my town. She asked me about this bill and she had a tinge of anxiety in her voice. She had heard very negative things about the bill. When I explained to her what the bill is about she came straight back at me that with her particular business—the one she and her husband run—it would be extremely difficult for them to give flexible hours to their workers. They have a business where people work outdoors and that is very reliant on the weather. If they suddenly have a fine spell they can jump out and get a whole lot of things done. She said she could not imagine how they could offer flexible work hours. I explained to her that with the type of reasons she gave to me she would never be forced to offer flexible work hours. She would be free to conduct her business in the way she wants and no pressure would be put upon her. She was hugely relieved. As I went through the bill with her she changed her opinion considerably and became quite supportive of it. 
She is a family person herself and when she saw the value there would be for family people she became quite the convert to this bill. That is what I think we are looking at here: for the public—and particularly the employing public—to understand the rights that this bill gives them. That is one of the areas of the bill that has been strengthened by the delay and by the work of the Department of Labour. We have added additional justification into the bill as to why an employer can turn down a request for flexible work hours. Again I think that is to the credit of the member in charge and the select committee which worked very hard; of submitters; of the officials and staff of the Department of Labour; and of everybody who has put his or her hand on the wheel to steer this particular ship and who has contributed to what is now pretty fine legislation. 
This is extremely family-friendly legislation. United Future is absolutely thrilled at how it has come out of the select committee. Every concern we had in the initial stages of the bill has been addressed. We are very happy to support the third reading of the bill and to congratulate everybody who has worked on it.