Bennett David: Employment Standards Legislation Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBennett David: Employment Standards Legislation Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 03 March 2016. Volume:711;Page:9409. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East): Normally I am quite in agreement with the last speaker David Seymour but I have to differ on a few little points about the importance of this House and setting some context around employment relations. I think there are some important things that this Parliament can do to safeguard the rights of workers and I think that is an important part of any Parliament. The members of the Labour Party over there are trying to trivialise the situation of work and we know that they are still trying to work out what work actually is in their environment. It is great to see the members over there in such a good mood when they are coming to the end of a week.This bill does deal with some important issues that have been in the work environment for a number of years now especially around the paid parental leave scheme which is something that there has been a lot of debate around.David Seymour: The member hasn’t disagreed with me yet.DAVID BENNETT: Ha ha! You do not want me to go back and disagree. The paid parental leave scheme has been something that both sides of the House have debated over a number of years. During that process a number of arrangements and extensions to that scheme have actually come into place and this bill builds on that and develops and provides more opportunities for the paid parental leave scheme to be extended—not only extension in its obligations but also in the protections that it gives to parents. I think that is something that all members of this House see as very important for the future of our country going forward.The main provisions in this bill around paid parental leave have been canvassed quite strongly by all members of the House. There are some important parts in relation to caregivers and the 12-months and the 6-months changes and also as some have talked about the pre-term babies—they are important changes there and something that we do agree on with that member—but also the eligibility for certain occupations and self-employment and employee status. So that is an important part of this bill.There are also other changes to the Employment Relations Act. Members on the other side may disagree with those changes but those changes are very important especially some of the changes around the Employment Court which I am sure those members will be very interested in going through.Then there are further charges in regard to the Wages Protection Act which is part of the legislation as well. That is around the zero-hour contracts which many members have spoken about in regard to paid parental leave. It has been an issue for some years in our system. All members of this Parliament I am sure would want to see a result that is in the best interests of employees in regard to zero-hour contracts without taking away the need and the ability for casual contracts and casual work arrangements as well.This bill covers a number of areas in the workplace. It is about providing more opportunities for employees to get more protection. It is doing that in a balanced way that enables employers to come along with it. It is something that this House can do to make a real difference in people’s working lives. It builds stronger families and communities. It is something that we encourage to go through the House. Thank you.