Newman Muriel: Holidays Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Newman Muriel: Holidays Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:614;Page:10511] 
Dr MURIEL NEWMAN (ACT) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of the ACT party to oppose this Holidays Bill. I know that comes as a surprise to the Labour Party but I remember when Max Bradford tried to review the holidays legislation back in the 1996-99 Parliament and that member over there was one of the ones calling out that Mr Bradford was “trying to sell off Christmas”. Well this Labour Government is trying to buy votes at the next election. This is the most blatant electioneering-bribe bill I have seen coming through this Parliament because the major provision will not come in until 2007. So I thought a very good amendment to the title would be the “Holidays Labour Party Election Bribe Bill”. I know that would probably get ruled out of order but I believe it states the bill as it is. That is all that this bill is—a bribe by the Labour Party to buy the votes of workers at the next election and I think it is a disgrace. 
The reason for trying to amend the Holidays Act was to clarify the entitlements. When it came around to holiday time there used to be something like 20000 calls a year to the Department of Labour to clarify entitlements for workers but the key part of any review of the Holidays Act was to allow flexibility and choice for workers. So if workers wanted to take extra days’ leave that was their choice but if they wanted to take the money and work through the holiday period then that was their choice as well. There were a lot of New Zealand workers who needed the money at various times in their lives and they wanted that choice. This Labour Government has taken away all such choices. 
It is interesting to see that a lot of the advice the Labour Government received during the submission process was that the provision in the bill for 4-weeks’ holiday will cause employers to pass on lower wage rates to workers as they go forward. Employers will also try to recoup costs through higher prices so again another amendment to this title could be the “Holidays (Lower Wages and Higher Prices) Bill”. That is exactly what will happen. Workers will take their 4 weeks’ holiday a year but later on will find that their wages will not go up as quickly as they had hoped and consumers will find that a large amount of the cost of this bill—which is estimated to be some $700 million a year—will be passed on to them in higher prices. 
I like the previous speaker’s idea that this bill could be called the “Extended Holidays Bill”. There is certain merit in that but I also thought another amendment to the title could be the “Labour Government Knows Best Holidays Bill”. This bill shows the arrogance of a Government that thinks it knows best on anything to do with the lives of ordinary New Zealanders. 
Another amendment that would have merit would be the “Union Movement Holidays Bill” because it is a clear indication of the other arm of Government. It is not just the Labour Party that is governing this country right now it is also the union movement and every industrial relations amendment that comes through this Parliament is now driven by the union movement. So I thought that “Union Movement Holidays Bill” would be a very clear indication of where the power lies within the Labour Party. 
This is another piece of legislation that is anti-business anti-growth and anti-employment and it is quite sickening that we can have a Government ruling this country that is so anti-business. It means that while times are good things bubble along—and we have been seeing that with our economy which is growing at a reasonable level. But now that Labour is bringing in so many changes when the economy turns down—as we all know it will—we will go into a slide that this country will have trouble climbing back out of. The changes to industrial relations that Labour is bringing in with the union movement right behind it will cause that.