Boyack RachelRACHEL BOYACK (Labour—Nelson): Thank you Madam Chair. It's a privilege and a pleasure to take a call in the committee stage of this important debate. I just want to begin by responding to some of the comments raised from the other side around dependants because I feel like I took a step back about 60 years into the 1960s around those comments and I wasn't even born in the 1960s but I've heard enough about that time to know that it felt like I was going way back in time. Because it kind of felt and it kind of sounded like employers wouldn't hire women and I know that wasn't stated explicitly but it was certainly implied in the debate. And actually what I want to talk about is the number of men I've worked with over the years who have campaigned to increase the sick leave for them in their workplaces. In one of my previous roles I worked as a union organiser proudly.Hon Scott Simpson: Ah!RACHEL BOYACK: I know I know Mr Simpson. I know it's hard to hear that there's people here who understand working people—over here. Look at us over here. And so—Hon Scott Simpson: The great aspiration.RACHEL BOYACK: Absolutely and these men were very aspirational for their families. In particular they always were lobbying for increased sick leave in their workplace. And one of the arguments they would use around that was actually about caring for dependent children—and these were sawmills male-dominated industries and the men when we were doing our collective bargaining would always put a claim up to significantly increase their sick leave because they would tell me that when their children were sick often their wives—if they were married to a woman—would have used up their sick leave their five days of sick leave to look after sick children and that it would then fall to them. So actually I want to counter the implied argument from the other side that somehow it's people of a certain age or women who are the ones that actually take care of their children when they're sick. And I know that the Minister in the Chamber tonight is actually one of those fathers that has modelled that and so understands exactly what I'm talking about.I want to particularly talk about supermarkets because in the second reading debate there were comments made around supermarkets being unable to afford this. I used some time in that debate to talk about my experience working alongside supermarket workers. The first thing to note is that Countdown already have eight days of sick leave and they already accumulate more than the 20 days alongside other benefits. So for a large Australian-owned company like Countdown it will not be much of a stretch to move from eight days to 10 days a year. The other main supermarket chain we have in New Zealand is Foodstuffs that owns our Pak 'N Save and New World supermarkets and the majority of those supermarkets do not have a collective agreement in place and only pay the minimum of five days a year.Hon Michael Woodhouse: What a lazy union that must be.RACHEL BOYACK: These supermarkets are owned by multimillionaires Mr Woodhouse and they can afford to pay 10 days a year. They certainly can. And so—Hon Michael Woodhouse: Sounds like the trades hall.RACHEL BOYACK: Isn't it a great thing? Trades halls are great places. So look the point is is that for those employers they can and they should be paying more. And as many commentators have pointed out today it's actually critical for the community for the customers of those places. How would you feel going into a supermarket knowing that there was somebody there who should have stayed at home but did not have enough sick leave and actually was pressured and felt obligated to go to work and then they're serving you food across the counter? That's the risk that we take because if workers don't have access to sick leave they will either use annual leave which is a bad thing to do because annual leave should be used for proper rest and relaxation; they'll take leave without pay which will impact on their ability to pay the rent or the mortgage; or they'll go to work and when they do that they put their own health and safety at risk they put the health and safety of their colleagues at risk and their customers. But workers are often placed in these incredibly difficult situations. So increasing sick leave for these workers I'll just finish up by reminding everyone will have a positive impact on the wellbeing of workers and the wellbeing of our community and it's the right thing to do. So thank you Madam Chair.