Genter Julie AnneJULIE ANNE GENTER (Green): I would like to congratulate the Hon David Parker on bringing this bill to the House and seeing it through the select committee process because fundamentally this bill is about fairness. It is about creating a fairer New Zealand and that is what we are here for. I know that most New Zealanders want to live in a country where if someone goes out and does a full day's work they have enough to live in a warm safe and secure home and to put food on the table so that their kids do not have to go to school hungry. That is fair.There are two problems here and this bill solves one of them. The problem in New Zealand firstly is that the minimum wage is not even high enough now for all New Zealanders who are working a full day's work to be able to afford those things that we consider essentials which everyone in our society should have access to. With the minimum wage at $15.25 an hour people are taking home just over $514 a week after tax. Is that enough when you have got a couple of kids—maybe a single parent—with the way that house prices are going in Auckland? No it is not enough. Too many people are struggling working hard to make ends meet and they cannot. That is not the New Zealand that I think most of us want to live in. Even those members opposite—I know they do not want that either. I just think that they are a little out of touch with what is happening under the ideological approach taken by this Government.So this bill solves one problem which is that contracts are being used to get around our minimum wage rules and to pay people less. This bill just makes it hard for people to do that—impossible for people to do that—and that is a good thing. That is a good thing. It is one step closer to a fairer society where people earn enough from their work and that is what we want.I know how difficult it must be for the members opposite to confront the fact that their ideology is not supporting the outcomes of a fairer New Zealand because they probably really believe it. Coming from the United States I can tell you that that ideology of always more competition always cutting wages not having a higher minimum wage—it does not work. It just leads to a grossly unequal society where there are some people who are incredibly wealthy and are benefiting from this approach but many people—many far too many—are struggling are working 60- to 80-hour weeks are working multiple jobs and do not have enough to pay for the basics. They do not have enough for healthcare and what is happening in that society is that it is coming apart. We can see that with the rise in the popularity of Donald Trump.That is the natural outcome of policies that are justified on the basis that they are good for employers and therefore good for jobs and therefore good for growth and therefore good for society. But the reality is—all the evidence shows—that that is not how it works and so we have to protect workers. We have to make sure that they are getting paid enough. There is not any real evidence that higher minimum wages lead to higher unemployment. There is no evidence. Chris Bishop: There is. There's a bucket load of it.JULIE ANNE GENTER: There is no evidence of that. I know it is really hard for those people brought up in the religion of the National Party to confront that reality but go look at the evidence. Go look at the evidence because the countries that are doing the best right now are the ones that have high protection for workers they have higher wages they have good social services—Hon Member: Scandinavia for a kick-off. JULIE ANNE GENTER: Yes Scandinavia—take a look at Scandinavia. But New Zealand is a small country and it is a country that prides itself on fairness looking after our natural environment working hard and sharing the benefits of that hard work. I know that that is the New Zealand that we can create together but in order to do that we are obviously going to have to change the Government because this lot does not understand how it is that we will create a New Zealand where everyone has the same opportunities. The Government is fundamentally committed to its constituency which is a group of very privileged people who are out of touch with the reality of families who are struggling. So I am very proud to be voting in favour of this bill tonight and with my party I know that we are all strongly supportive of the efforts of the Hon David Parker and the work that went into this bill in the select committee.