Sowry Roger: Holidays Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Sowry Roger: Holidays Amendment Bill — In Committee 
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Hon ROGER SOWRY (National) 
: 
 I want to talk about one issue that has not been touched on yet and I want to indulge the Minister if I may on an issue about the commencement of the bill. When the Minister announced the working party that was looking at this bill made up of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions and the business sector he said that the bill would be fixed before Labour weekend—hence the rushed timetable; hence the inability to hear people who wanted to be heard on the bill; hence the Government ignoring the overwhelming majority of submissions from anyone in the business sector who said the bill simply would not work; and hence the Government stitching up the deal with United Future whose members are saying that they do not think it will work but as Peter Brown has phrased it it is the sort of lick— 
John Key 
: The slurp. 
Hon ROGER SOWRY 
:—the slurp of the elephant to see if that will fix it. However the one thing businesses said was that even if the Government passes this bill before Labour weekend they cannot adjust their payroll systems to cope with it for Labour weekend. So the bill will not make one jot of difference. I ask the Minister whether he is aware of that. I think he is. So given that the bill will not make any difference to Heinz-Wattie whose officials no doubt told him that; given that the manufacturing sector appeared before the committee—companies like Heinz-Wattie and Carter Holt Harvey—and given that Air New Zealand is before the court this week in respect of the Holidays Act I ask the Minister why he does not say: “I am sorry businesses but you will have to suffer paying the extra amount for Labour Day on the Monday” because everyone will have to as they cannot change their systems. I ask him why he does not get it right. 
I guess my appeal to United Future is: have its members thought of that? My appeal is for them to pray on it think about it see whether it will work and see whether they can say that they will get it right for Christmas—not for Labour Day but for Christmas—because this bill does not get it right for Christmas. The costs for Christmas and New Year are huge. 
I tell the Minister I understand that even the union movement has said that this bill does not fix all the issues and that there are still some problems. Late in the day after the select committee process Ross Wilson came to the Minister and told him: “No it’s still not right.” But the Minister said to him: “No no. I’ve promised a Labour Day fix and fix it we will even if it’s wrong.” 
I know that members may have a wide-ranging debate on these clauses of the bill but I ask when the clause that deals with the bill’s commencement will be signed—on Friday? The Minister nods. It will be signed on Friday by the Governor-General. It will come into force on Friday with businesses according to the law having to pay new rates just 9 days later on Labour Day Monday—and they cannot do it. They physically cannot do it. 
That is the sort of botch-up we have had from the Minister’s own colleague around the STV thing when the votes could not be counted. At the end of the day there has to be less spin and more substance and there has to be a Minister who is prepared to listen. When he is not listening someone in Parliament needs to be the conscience. Some party that has some influence needs to say: “Yes we will stand for what is right not for what is convenient.” I wonder if there is a party whose conscience would lead it down that road. 
Lindsay Tisch 
: It’s a big ask. 
Hon ROGER SOWRY 
: It is a big ask. It requires putting a stake in the ground and for a party that should support stakes I think that that is a position it could take. 
I am worried that the Minister has ignored business. People who work on Labour weekend will of course be paid under the old law. Businesses will shut. This bill will solve nothing.