Newman Muriel: Holidays Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Newman Muriel: Holidays Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:614;Page:10550] 
Dr MURIEL NEWMAN (ACT) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of the ACT party to talk on Part 3 of the Holidays Bill. This is the part that talks about provisions for employers who do not follow the guidelines properly. I would like to start by reminding members that the bill is estimated to cost $700 million to the economy. Recently a business group worked out that the costs imposed on small business by this Government are something like $43000 a year. That is $43000 in extra compliance costs per year for medium-sized small business. A lot of that estimated cost will be caused by the provisions in the Holidays Bill. I say to the Government that for some small businesses this bill will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. It will be the final piece of legislation from this Government that makes small-business owners say: “I’m just going to close my doors I can’t be bothered any more.” 
Almost every day this Labour Government is making the cost of doing business in New Zealand higher. That is so stupid because we have a more competitive marketplace. As a nation we are in a more competitive global market and this Government should be making it easier to do business and less costly to do business so that New Zealand businesses can be more productive and more profitable. This Government is doing exactly the opposite. Because small businesses have had all the new employment laws and all the other costs shoved on their shoulders they have to hire extra advisers. They have to hire extra employees to help them go through the plethora of new regulations they have to deal with. All of that increases the cost to business which in many cases is passed on to the consumer. So ordinary mum and dad Kiwis find that their pay packets just do not go as far these days as they did before Labour members got their hands on the levers of power in this country. 
Did the Labour Government worry about the concerns of the submitters? I say that it did not. Here are some quotations from some of the small-business people who submitted to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee: “Small to medium business will not survive if this bill gets put into action.”; “will definitely have to cut staff.”; “This Government is making it tougher and tougher for businesses to keep going.”; “will have to hire more casual staff. We won’t be able to keep permanent staff on.”; “We will close on most statutory days.”; “Why has this Government got such a bad attitude towards business?”; and “This legislation obviously has been proposed by idiots. It will be inflationary and it will cause prices to go up.” When they were talking about the actual provisions for sick leave they said: “There is no need for a doctor’s certificate.” and “It will definitely lead to an abuse of this provision for sick leave.” Submitters are telling the Government that they think it will be tougher for small business but the Government members on the committee obviously took no notice. 
One of the submitters said: “The paperwork is now a nightmare.” I want to talk for a moment about the fact that the Government is now requiring employers to make detailed holiday and leave records with far more specific information than has ever been needed in the past and if they do not do it properly and the employee later brings proceedings then there is a good chance that the employer will end up being fined and it will be more costly on him or her. I make a note of clause 68 “Penalty for non-compliance” which states that if an employer fails to comply with all the provisions in this bill which are huge then the employer can be fined—up to $5000 if the employer is an individual and up to $10000 if the employer is a company. But of course that does not rule out all the other penalty rates under the Employment Relations Authority or the Employment Court.