Collins Judith; Lees-Galloway IainHon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura): Well thank you Mr Speaker. Isn't it wonderful to have such a wonderful fan base? And who said I can't reach across the aisle? Mr Speaker let me congratulate you on your election to Speaker. Can I also congratulate the Deputy Speaker the Hon Anne Tolley and the two new Assistant Speakers. I think it's great Mr Speaker that you want us to be kinder and more caring because everybody knows that there's no one more kind and caring than me. And I expect I'll continue to be kind and caring towards the Government because quite clearly they're going to need a bit of kindness and a bit of caring; a bit of pastoral care.Because if I look at this notice of motion about what is being continued all I can see is a Government not ready to govern. I see a Government that does not have its own legislation. I see a Government that is desperate to keep in such fabulous bills as the Autonomous Sanctions Bill. Everybody in the election campaign was waiting for that one. They were also desperate for the Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration Bill—what an amazing bill! The Food Safety Law Reform Bill—well I'm sure that's very worthy but what I think is missing is of course the Employment (Pay Equity and Equal Pay) Bill.All the way through the election campaign when did we ever hear any of these three parties forming a Government say that they were going to be against employment pay equity and equal pay? When? When did they promise that? Having just heard the Speech from the Throne—which I thought was an amazing rendition of basically a wish list for utopia because clearly New Zealand has been a terrible ravaged country where nobody's fed and no one's got a house and it's all so difficult. But actually what I didn't hear I didn't hear about world peace from the Speech from the Throne and I particularly didn't hear that this Government no longer believed in the Employment (Pay Equity and Equal Pay) Bill.This bill is not just a bill that's been languishing on the Order Paper—not at all. This is actually quite a recent bill brought in by my colleague the Hon Michael Woodhouse by the National Party which was then in Government along with the ACT Party and other parties. What actually happened was that we had after two years of work through a working group with unions with employers with people who just work as employees and businesses—we had all of that and we came up with recommendations that our Government when we were in Government accepted all of. So that bill is not just as I said languishing on the Order Paper. It was actually sent by this House in the previous term of Parliament to a select committee and that point hasn't been made: it's actually been referred to a select committee. There have been submissions that have been sent in—asked for; sent in—on that bill.And so what this new Government is now saying to the women of the world working in areas where they may not be equally paid—or certainly their work not valued equally. As someone who has spent most of my life working in male-dominated work—except of course here because nobody thinks that this place is a male-dominated place—what I've learnt is that you've got to have a working relationship with an employer in order to bring about change but also to give to employees the right to ask. I understand that Labour in opposition didn't like the thought that an employee could go and talk to their employer themselves. What they wanted is for Mr Andrew Little's mates to have to go in there to heavy the employer. My answer to these people is—Mr SPEAKER: Order!Hon JUDITH COLLINS: —New Zealand is a place of small business. Small businesses do not expect to have a big union boss coming in to tell them what to do in their workplace but they should I have to say start to get used to that concept. Most people working in New Zealand are working in small businesses. So you're talking about people in one- two- three- four-person businesses not great big public service organisations who have the ability to stand up against a union to be able to foot it foot-to-foot with the union and to actually stand up for their rights as well and to keep their business going. And that's one of the problems with the Labour Government: they don't understand that most business is small business.I'd like to hear what New Zealand First thinks about this. They've been trotting around the regions trying to be the party of the regions—I have to say the regions didn't vote for them and they rejected them soundly; and very good the regions—but actually they need to answer why is it that they want to give all this power to unions and at the same time say to the women employed in the businesses Actually you can't make decisions about yourself; you can't do anything. You can't stand up to your employer you can't go and speak to them without going to court without getting a lawyer without getting a union involved."Why can't these women make up their own minds and go and speak to their employers themselves with support in order that they can actually determine their own outcomes and lives? Why are we going down this track from a Labour Government of having a paternalistic attitude towards women? Women are not children—not unless they're under 16. They're not children and should not be treated like that. Actually most people in business should be able to have a relationship with their employers and their employees that enables them to discuss these matters.You shouldn't have to as an employer disclose all of the income of all of your other staff in order to justify their pay. That is a massive breach of privacy and it is something that people shouldn't have to do in small businesses. It is not OK for that to happen.It is also not OK for an employer to have to justify every single reason why somebody is paid one salary and another paid another because it can actually be incredibly demotivating for someone to find out that they didn't have particular skills in a particular area or that they couldn't actually come out with the outcomes for clients. Those are the sorts of things that a small employer can sit down with an employee and talk about but without a great big union thug standing over them pushing them around picketing them destroying their businesses—because that's exactly what the Labour Government wants.Why is it that New Zealand women are now going to be asked to wait for years more for the new legislation to come into the House? It's taken two years of intensive negotiations and intensive consultation right across New Zealand right across business right across employers and with the unions as well—it's taken two years. And what we're seeing today is that this new Labour-led Government—this Labour - Greens - New Zealand First Government; this new Government—is happy to say to New Zealand women "Go take another two years honey. Go take another two years because you're not going to be man enough to stand up for yourself." That's what they think about New Zealand women. Well I've got something to say to that Government—that Government—and it is this: New Zealand women will stand up for themselves. They don't have to be treated like children and they are quite capable of talking to their employers. And actually the day that employers and employees stop talking is the day that the business starts to break down.I actually think that these Labour Government members do not understand that employers do not have little horns on their heads. They're trying to actually make the profit that pays the taxes that as we've heard from the Speech from the Throne today are all about taking money off people who earn it—taking money off people who dare to make profit—taking money so it can be spent.One thing I'd say just to end is that my colleague the Hon Steven Joyce was quite wrong when he talked about the $9 billion fiscal hole. He should have said the $30 billion fiscal hole which is what I saw today.Hon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Deputy Leader of the House): I move That the question be now put.Hon Members: Mr Speaker!Mr SPEAKER: Yelling at me doesn't help Dr Smith. I must say that I am quite tempted but I think we'll have a contribution from the learned former Attorney-General."