Tisch Lindsay: Minimum Wage Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Tisch Lindsay: Minimum Wage Amendment Bill — In Committee 
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LINDSAY TISCH (NZ National—Piako) 
: 
 It is interesting that the Government has not decided to take a call on such important legislation. Members know that it is businesses that create jobs. It is businesses that create wealth and growth in the economy. That is where employment comes from. I would have thought that this Government—which says it is business-friendly but in fact is anti-business anti-employer and anti-anything that we actually get growth from—would have stood up in support of this legislation. As my colleagues have said tonight this bill will allow by Order in Council a change to the minimum wage conditions of employees. That is what it says. The explanatory note goes further to state—and this is the point that John Key and Tony Ryall have made and I want to read it out because the Minister when in the chair seemed to refute the fact that it would happen—“The proposed change may have a small adverse impact on the Government’s fiscal position—” 
Hon Rick Barker 
: “May”! 
LINDSAY TISCH 
: This is what it says; I am reading it word for word. The member cannot say “No.” I am reading what it says. 
Hon Rick Barker 
: It says “may”. 
LINDSAY TISCH 
: I tell the Minister I am reading what the officials have got here. It then goes on to say—and members should take note of this because this is important; I have underlined it in my notes because that is how important it is—“The fiscal impact would come from increased benefit payments that may occur as a result of potential job losses over time. It is therefore unclear what the overall fiscal impact would be.” Simply what this bill will do is move people away from training opportunities and they will go on to unemployment queues— 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Scrap heaps! 
LINDSAY TISCH 
: —on to scrap heaps. They will be left. There is no place for initiative. We have young people out there who are prepared to have a go. They are prepared to knock on the doors and employers are prepared to give them a go. They will say “Yes—” 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: You’ve done it. 
LINDSAY TISCH 
: They have done it. I have done it myself. I have been prepared to give people a go. At the end of the day though there must be a cost benefit to this so I am prepared to give people a go just as are hundreds of other employers around the country. There are 250000 small business employers out there employing fewer than 5 people. That is where the market is. They are prepared to give young people a go. But the important thing is that if I am going to take somebody on there has to be a return. I am making an investment in those people. I am prepared to put them through a training course. For example if I am a retailer I may put them on a Kiwi Host course so that they understand what customer service is about in the business. I am prepared to give them those opportunities; at the same time I know that that investment in their future will pay off and I will be able to recoup that because they will be able to add value to the business and make my business grow. Unfortunately this bill does not do that at all. It is anti those opportunities to take on people. 
Who would want to take on staff in this current environment? I have mentioned before in previous debates that with compliance costs that businesses are having to face today there is no incentive. We are now seeing so many businesses that are retrenching. Business confidence in the latest surveys is at a 15-year low. Look at what was on television tonight with power prices. Goodness gracious who wants to be in business when we have a Government that does not understand the basis of doing business does not understand where the wealth comes from where the growth comes from and at the same time it wants to bring in those minimum conditions that are anti-business anti-employers and anti - young people? The worst part is that young people are affected by this legislation. It is those 26000 young people who are looking to us for an opportunity to give them a start. Those are the ones that will be on the scrap heap. Those are the ones that we should be nurturing and looking after because they are the future. 
The bill states—and the Minister disagreed with that—that it will increase benefit payments and the fiscal impact will come from increased benefit payments. If that means more people will go on a benefit then there is something radically wrong with legislation that allows that to happen to our young folk. National will not be supporting this bill.