Prasad Rajen: Holidays Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Prasad Rajen: Holidays Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:668;Page:15495] 
Dr RAJEN PRASAD (Labour) 
: 
 I wanted to take a call to address the provision in this bill to sell the fourth week of one’s holiday. I have sat here for some time listening to how the provision is justified by this notion of choice. We have heard a lot about choice today. The Hon Dr Wayne Mapp said earlier when he entered the Chamber that it was also about money. Well I say to the Hon Dr Wayne Mapp that it is not about money—time is important. I wonder when a Government member will rise to defend the rights and needs of the families who require that time. I wonder whether members opposite will stand up and defend the right to cry “Fire!” in a crowded room simply because they feel like it because that is the choice they have. They will not. Members on that side of the Chamber are reluctant to speak about the limits of this notion of choice. 
Presenting the notion that the provision to sell 1 week’s leave is a choice is really being cute. It is being cute with the lives of our families and I will explain why as I go along. The idea behind the fourth week of annual leave is to give our families time. I do not see Government members rising to defend the right of choice in everything; they do not. They are always very very selective and they have been today as well when they have been talking about choice. It essentially means a choice when members on that side of the Chamber have the chance to peddle their particular ideology on any matter that is introduced into this House. I ask why they do not defend the right to choose in relation to speeding. I ask what their basic argument is to say that one does not have the choice to drive beyond the speed limit. They can see that doing that has dangers. This House has rules in place and that one is about safety; it is about the safety of others. 
Choices have to be balanced out as well. It is not just a matter of choice willy-nilly but it is for members opposite when they want to make a particular ideological point. There is no choice over whether to break into a house because that is about safety and the rights of others. There is no choice over whether we pay our taxes. That is something we all have to do because that is how a decent society and our kind of democracy operates. 
Why has choice become so important for this Government and why is the Minister of Labour driving the notion of choice through this particular provision—the provision to sell the fourth week of one’s annual leave. I wonder when members opposite will show a real appreciation of the notion of the fourth week of annual leave. Why was it introduced and why did Labour members when in Government support that notion? I understand that National members never supported the notion of having a fourth week of holiday. Did they? No they did not. This is one way by stealth that they are trying to get rid of it. 
Essentially this provision says to me that the Government is anti-family; it is absolutely anti-family. The notion of spending time with the family is one of the most important predictors of family well-being. The one thing that families constantly tell us is that they require time—time to parent to celebrate who they are to build relationships and to have real family time. This is when a family recovers. This is when a family enjoys themselves. This is when the family develops all of the good will that family members require throughout their lifetime as a family. 
When this bill attacks family time it is essentially attacking our families. It is taking away from the very unit that we want to make the strongest unit possible in our society. The fourth week of holiday is a very important time. It is incredible that Government members have not shown any appreciation of the provision of the fourth week of holiday. Government members have said that this is simply a choice but it is a choice on the employer’s side only.