Bennett Paula: Employment Relations (Flexible Working Arrangements) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Bennett Paula: Employment Relations (Flexible Working Arrangements) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
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PAULA BENNETT (National) 
: 
 Unlike the member who spoke before me Sue Moroney I will not stand up and make allegations about members on the other side of the Chamber as to whether they are family-friendly whether they like children or whether they support them. Those sorts of allegations make members on that side of the Chamber be seen in the light of what they truly are which is quite frankly just nasty and a bit angry when it really comes down to it. 
New subsection (3) under new section 69AAI is one that I certainly have questions about and would be interested in discussing a little more. The subsection states: “An application under subsection (2) must be made within 3 months after the date on which the employer notified the employee that the employee’s request was refused.” Supplementary Order Paper 148 has changed that date to 12 months. That just seems absolutely incredible. So not within 3 months but within 12 months after a request for flexible working hours for whatever reason an application can still be made. That just seems absolutely incredible and far too long. It is simply too long. 
The other section in this part is the section stating that within 12 months an employee can make only one request. As we know flexible working hours are happening now. As we have heard many times from this side of the Chamber surveys and reports from employers and employees state time and time again that requests for flexible working hours are being made and are being met. So now we will have a law and once we start putting in laws we find that people do things to the letter. That is what most of our employers do—they do things to the letter. 
So a family can make a formal request—and let us just think about what might happen for that family. The family might need special circumstances around childcare for their 4-year-old so they put in a request noting the hours that would suit around childcare for that young one. They put that request in to the employer and it is—or is not as the case may be—accepted and that process can go through. 
But for 12 months after that family have made their formal request they no longer have the opportunity under this legislation—and the other side of the Chamber is arguing that we need legislation around this—to make another request. So with this legislation those members have actually restricted people’s rights to make more than one request. They can ask only once. 
What if the childcare arrangements change within that 12-month period? What could well happen is that the centre down the road drops 23 hours—because they see what an absolute hoax it is and can no longer keep in business if they have it—and that means that that child cannot go to that centre for 20 hours. That means that the family need to make other arrangements. 
If one is an employer and is going by the letter of this legislation—which an employer is likely to do because we have law-abiding employers out there; they do everything they can to stay within the legislation and the rules that are put around them—then that person will be worse off. I think that is an absolute tragedy and an absolute shame and it will more times than not work against parents and their families. 
There is no bigger argument than the fact that this is legislation for the sake of legislation. No one supports flexible working hours! We have heard it said in this House and we may as well say it again—any sensible employers will accommodate their employees in any way they possibly can and they do. They do it now as we know. They accommodate their staff whenever they can. The amount of informal arrangements that are made between employee and employer or employer and employee happen because of the employees themselves. What happens time and time again is that the employees get together and say: “Hey listen how about I start earlier and you start later. This will make sure the shop’s still open until this time.” and then everyone is happy and then that changes a month later because this issue affects people’s lives and that is what they do. More often than not they negotiate that among themselves and they make it work.