Woods MeganEMPLOYMENT (PAY EQUITY AND EQUAL PAY) BILLFirst ReadingDebate resumed from 21 March.Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Energy and Resources): Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. It is my pleasure to come back and resume the speech that was interrupted a couple of weeks ago now because this is an incredibly important issue and this is something that we on the Government side of this House care very strongly about. In fact our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has promised she will not rest until pay equity is achieved in New Zealand.The bill that we have on the floor of the House tonight that we are debating simply will not achieve that. When we heard the member—who I believe had the best of intentions in bringing this bill to the House but when we look at the mechanisms that are contained in this bill and we've heard members talking about this vaunting what a success the Kristine Bartlett settlement was and the number of women that were lifted out of poverty through this settlement we agree with that. We agree that was a great moment and as I said in my previous contribution I am a proud member of the union that took that action and got those women that pay rise against a Government that fought them every step of the way in the courts—the previous Government. I am proud to say those women—Kristine Bartlett and all the other members of that union—fought hard and won a rightful case there.But the bill that we have on the floor of the House tonight simply would not allow another settlement such as the Kristine Bartlett case as it has come to be called. There's some very simple mechanistic reasons contained within this legislation why that would not occur. It's why we would not vote for this bill when the Opposition were in Government and brought this to the House as a Government bill and why we won't vote for it now that it's reappeared recycled as a member's bill. It's because of the comparator mechanism that what we have in here the reason—the very reason—that Kristine Bartlett was able and those women and that union were able to achieve that historic win against the Government who took them to court every step of the way was because they were able to make comparisons with comparable occupations. Under this legislation that we have here tonight that simply would not be possible and that is why we will not support this.We believe passionately in equal pay on this side of the House. It is in our DNA politically and is one of the things that we stand for. But what we will not support is legislation that purports to achieve it and actually achieves the opposite.Michael Wood: Virtue signalling.Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Because one of the things—that's right. As my colleague the Hon David Parker has said it's a virtue signalling. [Interruption] Oh sorry no—it's Michael Wood. Sorry there—you're sounding like David Parker. What this does is it distinguishes between equal pay unlawful discrimination on matters other than remuneration and pay equity claims. It sets out the processes for making and resolving those claims and equal pay claims are treated as claims for recovery of wages under section 131(1)(b) of the Employment Relations Act of 2000.Now these all sound like very dry ways to describe it but what this does is it forces parties to a pay equity claim to get bogged down in the arguments about sometimes irrelevant comparisons with the treatment of people doing different jobs in other sectors. That was precisely the reason because that didn't have to be achieved that we could actually achieve the win for Kristine Bartlett and those other women.This Government is committed to implementing policies to help women of all ages all ethnicities all abilities and all sexualities achieve pay equity. This bill does not meet the Government's objective of making it quicker easier and cheaper to achieve equal pay and to eliminate the gender pay gap.And we hear a whole lot of shrieking from the other side of the House from the Opposition. There were nine years that those members had in Government where they could have prioritised closing the gender pay gap where they could have prioritised issues such as pay equity. Instead they started their term in Government by cancelling measures that the previous Labour-led Government had put in place to achieve pay equity and never rebounded from it. This bill describes a less progressive approach to achieving pay equity than the one that this Government is currently working through with the joint working group and it is that process that we are committed to doing.It is so important that we remain committed to putting the right mechanisms in place so people can achieve that. New Zealand women continue to receive less pay than men in similar roles. That is not right. It is not something this Government is prepared to stand by as the previous Government did and let continue. We want to put in place measures that will make real change. I do congratulate the member that has had her bill drawn but we can't support this because this will not make the real and meaningful change that we require in this country. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker.