Henare Peeni: Employment Standards Legislation Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHenare Peeni: Employment Standards Legislation Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 08 March 2016. Volume:711;Page:9464. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PEENI HENARE (Labour—Tāmaki Makaurau): Tēnā koe Mr Chair. I rise to take this short call during the Committee stage on the Employment Standards Legislation Bill. I am reminded of a great piece of work done throughout the 1980s that led to Pūao-te-ata-tū. I have spoken about it plenty of times in this House. Pūao-te-ata-tū refers to matua whāngai and I think the great thing about some of the amendments that have been made to this particular bill really are in the vein of matua whāngai. However through the wise words of my colleague Jacinda Ardern I do want to put to this Government that well if these kinds of changes can be made around the definition of a “primary caregiver” perhaps adoption laws in this country can be reviewed—looked into—so that perhaps the term “matua whāngai” can apply there around the primary caregiver.But to the bill the meaning of primary carer—and in the Māori and Pacific Island communities that I represent in Tāmaki Makaurau it is well-known that it does take a village to raise a child. In this particular amendment it is fantastic to see that we will be able to stretch what that means out of the realm of the traditional which Mr Nash has spoken about regarding mum and dad. In the nature and the make-up of family today we find in a heck of a lot of Māori families that I speak to and indeed that I belong to that there are step-parents and there are other caregivers in that family—grandparents aunties uncles—who play a pivotal role in raising the children for the future.I will take this opportunity to quote the Rt Hon David Lange and his work—which I am sure Jacinda Ardern is familiar with—around the Before Five policy in which he talked about how improvements in this sector are an investment in the future. That is exactly what this particular piece of legislation is. To that one I want to congratulate and echo the sentiments of my colleagues and congratulate Sue Moroney on the fine piece of work that she has done in advocating for the needs of parents and families.I turn to section 30H in new Part 3A inserted by clause 34 which provides: “(2) The employee may refer the non-compliance with section 30D—(a) directly to mediation;”. This is a new provision in this bill that I think is a step in the right direction. I think it is a good thing. We know just how often and how much the labour inspectors in that particular sector struggle just to make sure that there are a lot of employers out there who do comply with the laws that we set here in Parliament. Although I applaud this step in the right direction to make it possible to go towards direct mediation or to a labour inspector we will be keeping a keen eye on this particular Government and the resources it gives to ensure that it is able to enforce that and that it is able to give the capacity to those labour inspectors to those people and to the arbitration courts and processes so that these provisions can be carried through to the letter of the law as stated in new section 30H.I think it is a good move in so far as that it is not always just about the employee. We are considering the employer here. Quite often there does not need to be the intervention of a labour inspector. Maybe that particular employee and employer feel that they are in a position and in a healthy working relationship where they are able to deal with it themselves. I think that is a positive move in the right direction but I do want to reiterate that we will be keeping a close eye on the capacity issues so that the labour inspectors and—I was about to say the labour department—all of those who are involved in the mediation processes do actually receive the support and the resources from this particular Government to make sure they can do that.Just to close this particular part of my contribution on what will be a long evening I do want to say that although we applaud these particular changes in Part 1 we have said—and we maintain this view—that tinkering around the edges is not going to solve the problem. Although we applaud the move to 18 weeks’ paid parental leave we will be looking at making sure it is extended to 26 weeks when we can. We will be keeping an eye on this Government. Kia ora.