Jackson WillieHon WILLIE JACKSON (Minister of Employment): Kia ora. Kia ora tātou. Ngā mihi o Te Tau Hou ki a koutou. Wishing you all a happy New Year. What a shocking contribution from that member Amy Adams. It reminded me—and I need to remind National Party members—of their shocking history in terms of workers and industrial legislation. Who will ever forget the infamous Employment Contracts Act which that lot over there would have been celebrating? A disgraceful disgusting Act that discriminated against workers Pacific Islanders Māori—yes and you're not looking are you? They're not looking because they are hanging their heads in shame. It was the most shameful Act in the history of industrial legislation. [Interruption] Yes it was Mr Goldsmith. [Interruption] Yes it was—yes it was. So the essence of the Act and their history which Amy Adams talked about is Workers can do it on their own." This is what she talked about: labour market flexibility. And you know what that means? It means you Mr Goldsmith he—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): Order! Don't bring me into the debate.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Sorry sorry. My apologies Mr Assistant Speaker. My apologies. That meant that in the workplace—this is the essence of what they did to us in the 1990s. I know first-hand because I was a union official fighting—Hon Steven Joyce: Can we talk about the current bill?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Oh no this is all about the current bill. You know—Hon Steven Joyce: Well it would be good if you would.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Hang on Mr Joyce. This is all about the current bill.Hon Steven Joyce: No it's not.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Oh yes it is because this is where it came from—this is where it came from. And you don't want to talk about it because you're a part of it. You were one—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): Order! The member will not bring the Speaker into the debate.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Oh yes I keep slipping up—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): It would be helpful if the member spoke to the Chair and then you would avoid that.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: I'm talking about this today because it's important to talk about the history. I came into this House because of that lot on the other side representing workers—Rt Hon David Carter: Which time?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: 1999. And we drove their dirty filthy Employment Contracts Act out of existence—out of existence—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): The member needs to come to this bill.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: But Mr Assistant Speaker I'm coming to this bill. This is where it all came from.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): I will—[Interruption] Order! We are 2½ minutes into the member's speech and the member needs to speak to the bill not his history of coming to Parliament.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: With respect there's a background—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): I hope the member is not going to question my ruling.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Oh no way.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): Very good.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: I'm not like some of the people on the other side. I never would do that. But it's important because some of the history here is being repeated—it's being repeated—and we heard that in the member Amy Adams' speech today when she talked about labour market flexibility and she talked about employer rights. She's not talking about union rights and that's the essence of this bill. We're talking about an amendment bill that confirms workers' rights that confirms union rights. That's what this bill is all about and the National Party are not interested and don't want to know about it.I'm saddened when I hear this nonsense about how dare we stand up for workers. That's what the National Party is saying. So I want to commend our Minister Iain Lees-Galloway for his courage in bringing this to the House because we got it right a few years ago. National get in and then they stuff it all up. And it's all about taking workers backwards back into history—"Never mind the meal breaks. Let's get a 90-day trial in." This 90-day trial is perfect. It's perfect.Employers—if they don't want to work with it what are they doing in business you've got to ask yourselves. See most of them on the other side wouldn't know because they haven't been employers. No they've been here. They have no background—no history. I had an employment force of over a hundred and did I use the 90-day trial? Very rarely—very rarely. In fact I had to argue against my own managers in terms of it because I thought it was a piece of legislation that acted against workers' interests. They should be able to go to a job—a big job—and have some security. That's what the 90 days is all about—to have some security—because if they don't get that security at the end of 90 days one of Mr Goldsmith's friends would say "See you later. Away you go." That's what they do because it's all about productivity isn't it Mr Goldsmith? It's all about productivity—"Move on and get out."So I think that we've got the right balance in terms of the 90 days. We look after the small employer—unlike the other side—and I think in terms of bigger employers they must face and look after the obligations they have. So again I think we're on the right track. We're trying to correct the mistakes of the past.Hon Tim Macindoe: The member has no idea what he's talking about.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Well I'm coming to the speech now. So in terms of the bill it has a much more balanced focus and I just want to briefly address some of the elements in the bill. I support—[Interruption] Look I got a bit worked up when I heard that sort of nonsense from one of your senior members. I mean it was shocking really. I know she's a contender for leadership unlike some of the members on that side but there was no need for that sort of abuse against some of our union members and workforce.But some of the areas that the Minister has talked about I think that are important are the collaborative effort of the Government parties who have worked closely to develop the proposals particularly the 90-day trial period the fairer share of the growth in the economy the better rate for workers—which wouldn't concern the other side—better union-employer relationships from which a better work environment and more productive outcomes are achieved and of course we're making serious progress towards honouring the Government's election promise to lift the minimum wage to $20 by 2021.We're also breathing real life into the equal pay for work of equal value kaupapa—an initiative that I worked on in the mid to late 1980s with the Northern Clerical Workers Union—and this key area of tackling worker exploitation is very important. I know that the National Party always say "Give us an example." but when we invite them to come out with us they never come. We've done that through the years.As well as that we've got the introduction of the fair pay agreements and the list goes on. So I salute our Minister in terms of what he's trying to do and I think the balance is right.In terms of the meal breaks—I mean these are considered fundamental to ensuring a workforce is properly revitalised energised and fully productive. It is beyond me why and how the previous Government could legislate against a fundamental right like that in terms of meal breaks. It just seems like everything's on the table when it comes to workers' rights. When it comes to fair pay in terms of workers everything seems on the table from the other side.What upsets me—and it really was exemplified in Amy Adams' speech today her kōrero today—was that she's so shocked and National are so shocked and horrified that we would dare stand up for workers and unions in this country. What's actually wrong with that? What is the problem? We stand here proudly in support of workers and unions in this country. As the Minister of Employment I am proud to stand by them.Do we support business? Of course we support business. Businesses are not going to collapse as in the dire predictions from the other side. We heard them in 2000 when we changed the dirty rotten filthy Employment Contracts Act. We heard all the predictions of "Oh the workforce is going to cave in." Nothing changed. In fact things flourished between 1999 and 2008 and between 2008 and 2017 things went backwards in the workplace. Things went backwards in the workplace.So I just think this is such an opportunity to rectify things. It is amending all the mistakes and nonsense that were put out by the previous Government who are on record really—we heard it again today from Amy Adams—in terms of basically saying "Who cares what workers want? Who cares what the workforce wants? It's all about our mates—Mr Goldsmith's mates out in Epsom and around Auckland. It's not about your average ordinary Kiwi." I say today shame on you Mr Goldsmith shame on the National Party and we're going to fix your mess. Kia ora anō tātou katoa."