Tremain Chris: Employment Relations Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Tremain Chris: Employment Relations Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:633;Page:5091] 
CHRIS TREMAIN (National—Napier) 
: 
 I rise to speak to the commencement date of the Employment Relations Amendment Bill. I assure the Committee that the commencement date of this bill was not on the Prime Minister’s mind this morning when she opened the new Hague building at Napier Girls High School—I would like to congratulate the school on the opening of that fine new building. This commencement date was also certainly not on the mind of Prime Minister Helen Clark in 1995 when she gave a speech to the New Zealand Employers Federation conference. She said: “Labour knows the economy now is more competitive innovative and dynamic than the economy of 10 years ago. In fact we would go so far as to suggest that a large part of that is due to the changes made by the last Labour Government.” 
Let me assure members that the commencement date of this legislation was far from her mind at that point in time. She was talking about the Labour Government of the late 1980s and early 1990s that had the courage to plot a new track for this country with the introduction of GST the privatisation of public assets such as Telecom and Air New Zealand the cutting of agricultural subsidies and trade barriers and the control of inflation. The commencement date of the Employment Relations Bill or the changes to employment relations legislation are a long way away from those hurly-burly days of that Labour Government which was looking to drive this country forward. 
From that point in time the National Government came in and launched the Employment Contracts Act in the early 1990s which is where the present bill came from. The Employment Contracts Act has evolved into the Employment Relations Act of 2000 and into the 15th amendment of that Act going forward. This country has benefited hugely from the innovative policies of those early years and has grown at an average rate of 3 percent since the 1990s—until now when inflation is rampant growth is stagnant domestic debt has skyrocketed and our balance of payments is dismal. 
What is the Government doing about it? Well we are debating the commencement date of the Employment Relations Amendment Bill right here and now. We are winding back the clock. The Government talks a big book on economic transformation—it talks a huge book. What are we doing about economic transformation? We are debating the Employment Relations Amendment Bill and its commencement date. Yes this Government is winding back the clock. 
Here is a quote from Ms Clark’s Speech from the Throne last year: “My Government’s overall objective for the next three years is to continue New Zealand’s transformation to a dynamic knowledge-based economy and society … . In the last six years my government has sought to lay the foundations for this transformation.” And what are we doing? We are debating the commencement date of the Employment Relations Amendment Bill. I ask members to tell me what that has to do with economic transformation. 
Hon Members 
: Nothing. 
CHRIS TREMAIN 
: Not one iota. This Government talks a big book about Government transformation and it introduces new laws. The commencement date we are discussing today is designed to protect certain categories of employees in restructuring situations. As we will see later on when we discuss different parts of the bill when we get past the commencement date we will be discussing particularly Subpart 2—how Labour has actually wound this in to include all employees. I am talking about Subpart 2 “Other employees”. 
This Government is engaged in economic transformation all right. It is economic transformation that is squeezing out innovation and entrepreneurial spirit and kicking risk takers in the guts. And here we are debating the commencement date of the Employment Relations Amendment Bill which is seeking to kick entrepreneurs like Shane Jones in the guts. The bill is seeking to kick Mr Jones’ fishing businesses across the floor. Such employers depend on innovative business practices on merging businesses on changing the business to meet the market—entrepreneurial activities that will take this country forward. So here we are debating the Employment Relations Amendment Bill commencement date which will do nothing to transform this country or improve its economic growth. This bill is a total waste of time.