Sharples Pita: Third Readings 
Sharples Pita: Third Readings 
[Volume:635;Page:6817] 
Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 It was just another Wednesday in Wellington on 30 August 2006 but suddenly gas supplies in the central business district shut down after a burst water main infected the pipeline with water and gravel. The 60-year-old high pressure water main just outside Parliament beneath the intersection of Bowen Street and The Terrace burst and water flooded 30 kilometres of the central city network. About 1000 customers were affected including even the very influential customers of Copperfields and Bellamy’s. Nearly 200 business owners faced delays. Commercial buildings hotels and restaurants could not heat water cook or provide heating or air conditioning. The hospitality industry estimated that it incurred a loss of about $5 million. It took 21 days before the last customers were finally reconnected. The fact is that 130 holes are still to be repaired in this city now renamed the “Home of Swiss Cheese”. 
The crisis highlighted the vulnerability of an ageing infrastructure. It also brought home very strongly the often invisible but vital role that gasfitters drainlayers and plumbers play in the maintenance of our major utilities and the significance of workers involved in energy safety—as are electricity workers and those involved in health and safety. The industries we are discussing today are central as part of the team keeping New Zealanders healthy. The drains and pipes that comprise our central networks take away waste as well as make sure New Zealanders have access to water that is safe to drink. Plumbers and gasfitters are a critical component of the complex web of health and safety arrangements that enable towns and cities to function. 
So the Maori Party is happy to support this collection of bills in the interests of public and worker safety. We support the proposals to repeal and replace previous provisions with improved requirements regarding the registration licensing and disciplining of plumbers gasfitters and drainlayers. The bill also contains mechanisms designed to assure the public that people engaged in these services are competent to undertake that work. 
The issue of competency and safety is one the Maori Party has a particular interest in. It was because of our interest in safety matters that we took up the advice offered by the New Zealand Amalgamated Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union and suggested an amendment to remove the ability of the Electrical Workers Licensing Board to issue practising licences to employers. The Energy Safety Review Bill sought to revamp the issuing of employer licences which allowed employers to hold practising licences on behalf of their workers. The amendment we put forward was suggested by the New Zealand Amalgamated Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union in its submission to the Commerce Commission. 
It is the union’s view that employer licences have the potential to compromise the safety of both workers and the public and should be disallowed. We agreed with the union that it is essential the electrical workforce comprises highly trained people whom its fellow workers can absolutely rely on. It gives workers confidence to know that their colleagues are properly trained and able to hold their own individual practising licences rather than licences being held by the employer. We also shared the concern of the New Zealand Amalgamated Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union that business costs and skill shortages may result in employers choosing to opt for less trained or experienced workers therefore putting other workers and the public at risk. The crux of the issue is about ensuring frameworks for adequate employer investment into the training and skilled development of workers. 
It was a matter of great disappointment to us that the amendments put forward by the New Zealand Amalgamated Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union—the largest trade union in Aotearoa—were voted down by all parties except the Maori Party and the Green Party. We appreciate the efforts of our colleagues in the Greens to always look out for the interests of workers. 
The experience of competency and safety issues for Maori employed in this workforce also takes on another dimension in the context of cultural safety. Tamati Kruger working at the time for the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry as a project coordinator in the Eastern Bay of Plenty has written about the involvement of Maori plumbers in the industry. He told the story of one young plumber confronted by a number of local plumbers who had joined forces to try to put him out of business. According to that young plumber: “I took a lot of Maori work off the other plumbers in this area. And with the Maori population being quite high here a lot of it was their work. That’s what it boils down to … I feel pressured a lot of the time when I’m in town.” 
The Maori Party knows that raising comments such as this one often leaves people feeling uncomfortable but we cannot raise the issue of public and worker safety without addressing the importance of protecting and achieving cultural safety in every occupation in which Maori and indeed workers of all cultures and ethnicities are working. If we are committed to the health and well-being of all New Zealanders we must make it a priority that public and worker safety including cultural safety is given urgent attention. 
On the subject of shortages in the workforce I tell members that a 2005 Colmar Brunton survey showed that employers expected to be short of 594 registered craftsmen 450 plumbers 139 gasfitters 177 drainlayers and 132 apprentices by the end of that year. That is a total of 1492 staff. The Department of Labour has also identified the serious and immediate skills shortages of these workers. I wonder whether anyone else in this House has ever tried to get a plumber or gasfitter at short notice or in an emergency—they are like the proverbial hen’s teeth. For evidence of the nature of the crisis one has only to think about the situation for Canterbury residents this past winter when a chronic shortage of plumbers hugely exacerbated the hardships of below-zero temperatures that caused water to freeze and pipes to burst thus leaving many homes without water and heating. 
The Commerce Committee’s report back recommended that the legislation be passed with a range of amendments. We believe that the select committee process has addressed a myriad of concerns raised and that the committee is to be congratulated. The report described appropriate responses to issues such as consultation and role clarification between the industry training organisations and the board. Initial proposals to change the licensing system have been greatly modified in line with minimising cost and maximising safety. We are pleased also with proposals to enable the public to recognise a licensed worker easily by way of making these registers publicly available. That is consistent with the requirements of building practitioners under the Building Act 2004. We support such advances in the ongoing progress for accountability and transparency. In that line we are also pleased to support improved procedures for addressing complaints against workers with enhanced enforcement provisions. These are all positive moves and they contribute to our decision to vote in support of the legislation. However we note that as with the previous bill there will be compliance cost increases for workers and businesses. We remain unconvinced of the real value of these increases in terms of public and worker safety. 
Finally I tell the House that the Maori Party will support the series of bills brought together under the auspices of the original Energy Safety Review Bill and the Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Bill in the interests of the public health and worker safety of Aotearoa. Thank you.