Henare Tau: Employment Relations (Secret Ballot for Strikes) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Henare Tau: Employment Relations (Secret Ballot for Strikes) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 09 May 2012. Volume:679;Page:2099. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 I move  
That the Employment Relations (Secret Ballot for Strikes) Amendment Bill be now read a third time 
. When we get to the end of the debate we will be asking ourselves in these words “The question is that the motion be agreed to.” This is not an attack on unions. We have heard this through the first reading the Committee stage and then in a roundabout fashion talk from some of the staunchest unionists in the Labour Party. I have a great respect for those who go out of their way to help people and who stand up for other people but in this debate this is about workers employees union members non - union members and full-time part-time and casual workers—you name it. It is about them. It is about their rights. This is not a debate about whether or not the union organisation is right or wrong. This is not a debate about whether the Labour Party the National Party New Zealand First or the other parties in this House are right or wrong. This is a bill that states quite categorically that when strike action is to be taken there must be a secret ballot. That is the least that we ask of our country when we go to the polls—voting by a secret ballot.  
It is about choice. Choice is about making a decision without the sword hanging over the top of you—if it does. And nine times out of 10 there is no sword hanging over anybody. It is about that individual making that choice for him or herself. That is all. There is no conspiracy. There is no conspiracy against the union movement; there is no conspiracy against anybody in this bill. All it does is allow a couple of things: one is choice and we have covered that; the other is freedom—freedom to choose without fear of somebody else putting the hard word on you. And that putting the hard word on you— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am not using the word “you” as in you. I am using the word “you” in the context of what I am saying. I think you need to listen carefully to the speech. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I am listening carefully to the speech Mr Henare and I am just if you like trying to get the member to debate under the terms of the Standing Orders and Speakers’ rulings. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: It is about freedom. It is about walking into a place and deciding for yourself—not you Mr Assistant Speaker but for yourself. It is about making that decision given all the information. Nobody has ever said in this debate that it is about the unions putting pressure on you. It is not actually about that. It is about the freedom of choice. Every employee every worker—whether they be casual full-time part-time contract workers or whatever—should be accorded due respect but we should also respect the employer and also the union organisers. At the end of the day this is what we wish for every democratic society around the world. Is it too much to ask for? Is it too much to ask for that workers—employees—get the right when they are asked to withdraw their labour to do it in such a way that it is secret to them? 
Su’a William Sio 
: Well they’ve got to have a job first. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh OK. This is the sort of thing that I would expect from William Sio the failed ex - Hillary College first XV half back. Actually we did not have a first XV; we had a second XV and he could not even make that. [ 
Interruption 
] Yes I was in the third XV and I was very proud of it. 
I have just returned from Uganda— 
Kris Faafoi 
: What position did you play? 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: In those days it was called flanker. I have just returned from Uganda and Egypt. No one would decry the folk from Egypt and Uganda of democracy freedom the right to choose and the right to make a decision by themselves without fear of somebody standing over them with a sword or even the inkling that somebody might be at the back with a sword. That is all.  
So I say to members of this House that it is about the one thing we hold dear to ourselves and that is freedom of choice—freedom to choose. We all hold that dear to our hearts whether you are red white black or green. I know that the folk in Egypt and Uganda have had to struggle hard to get just a whiff of freedom struggle hard to get just the thought that they might be able to make a decision for themselves.  
I want to say to my parliamentary colleague Andrew Little that his disparaging remarks about my wife and my wedding— 
Hon Annette King 
: Put them into context. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Yes I will. 
Hon Annette King 
: Read the whole quote. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: I certainly will. The bringing up of family and personal stuff in a debate that has nothing to do with it is shameful. I have got to say to Andrew Little that if he thinks he is going to be the leader of the Labour Party he has got another think coming if he is going to act like that.  
I do have a word for the organisers in the Talley’s dispute and also the owners of Talley’s themselves. It is time to get back to the table boys and girls. It is time to stop this “I’m bigger and I’m stronger than you.” 
Hon Annette King 
: Give them backing. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Pardon? 
Hon Annette King 
: Give them some backing. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Give them some backing. At the end of the day— 
Hon Annette King 
: Don’t sell out. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Do not sell whom out? What are you talking about? What a load of rubbish. This is from the member who wants to be the Mayor of Wellington. She said: “Don’t sell out.” What? Does she not like the present mayor? Oh that is right. She is going to retire very very soon and put her name in for the Mayor of Wellington. Why does she not just leave now and do us all a favour? Why does she not leave right now? She is done like a biscuit—she is done like a biscuit. She is and she will go the same way as Cunliffe and Shearer. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! The member is a longstanding member. He knows that he must use a member’s full name or their title. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: It is David Shearer and David Cunliffe. In winding up this is about what everybody in the world wants and that is freedom of choice. This is about democracy. If it is good enough for your nation to have a vote by secret ballot every 3 years in a general election why is it not good enough to have a secret ballot when somebody is withdrawing their labour? It is the question you have to ask yourself. Why should we not expect the same rules and regulations and standards to apply when we are asking members of the workforce to withdraw their labour? That is a decision. I do not mind people withdrawing their labour. That is the one and only tool that a lot of people have but it should be their choice. It should not be another person’s choice and there certainly should not be any inkling of fear when you make that decision. So this is not an anti-union anti-left anti-labour bill. This is actually pro-worker. This is about democracy and I am reminded of the words from Martin Luther King— 
Darien Fenton 
: Oh no. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Well we do not want to hear about Martin Luther King! He is only a person in a byline of history. What he said was: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty we are free at last!”.