Ardern Shane: Minimum Wage Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Ardern Shane: Minimum Wage Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:608;Page:5142] 
SHANE ARDERN (NZ National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 It is with some pleasure that I rise to oppose the Minimum Wage Amendment Bill and particularly the title which is so misleading. 
There are some things that one learns through life experience that clearly one cannot get from attending all the academic institutions in this country. If ever there was evidence of that it is there in the current Government. The reason Government members are here now in the dead of night trying to ram through legislation that would be much better titled the “Minimum Wage Repeal of Training Exemption Bill” as proposed by the Hon Tony Ryall is that they do not have that life experience. One can have all the PhDs in the world but if one does not have some kind of life experience or a PhD in life experience then one is without any knowledge at all. 
One of the areas where people get that knowledge—and without a doubt this is so in the farming sector—is through on-the-job training. I know that that comes as a surprise to most of those on the Government side because none of them has experienced anything like that. I also know that some members of this Parliament are genuinely concerned about the exploitation of young people in the workforce and for that reason I have some sympathy with where they want to go but the bottom line is that what is being proposed in this legislation—particularly with the title it has been given—will achieve exactly the opposite of what they are trying to achieve. Even more young people will be unemployed and denied the opportunity to go out and earn a living and to be part of a constructive and credible workforce. 
One need look no further than the comments made recently by some major business interests in the country to find that employers will not take the risk—and I know that is absolutely so in the farming industry. I appeal to members opposite and to the Minister in the chair the Hon Paul Swain to take a call and tell me why a farmer with an $80000 tractor a $20000 feed-out wagon and the potential for a $20000 penalty for putting penicillin in the milk by accident or a penalty for allowing stock to wander in a way that they should not—and we have just seen a recent case of bad farming practices and the $200000 fine that went with it—would take on an untrained young person at the minimum wage that is likely to be prescribed by some socialist group based in Wellington. Why would people do that? What incentive is there for them to do that? Clearly people take a lot of risk in taking someone on. At the moment in the farming sector in particular people take that risk: they spend the money they spend the time in training and in some cases they even pay for those young people to go on to further academic and practical training through various institutions in the country because they need those young people to come through. Why would they take that risk if there is a huge financial penalty in doing so? I appeal to the Minister to take a call and tell us why he thinks that to be the case. 
The select committee was told that 26000 young people in New Zealand would be affected by this measure. The judgment call that any Government has to make is whether those people will benefit or whether they will not. The overwhelming evidence is that they will not. So why is the Government here at this point in time proposing a bill that clearly will not have the desired outcome? Why is it that this bill is named the Minimum Wage Amendment Bill when it will clearly achieve the exact opposite of that objective? I hope the Minister will take a call and clear that up for the Committee because I know that a lot of people are curious about that. 
Also I know that a large number of young people out there need some kind of encouragement to get from where they are into meaningful employment. One of the things that encourages young people to go into employment is when people from industry approach them and say: “You look as though you are capable. We’re not willing to take the risk under employment law but if you come and work for us for nothing for a few days or for a week or so on a trial basis we will take that risk and we will give you a go. We will give you that opportunity.” This legislation and its title in particular will stop that from happening.