SpeechSIMON O'CONNOR (National—Tāmaki): I don't want to strictly bring family into the House; I'm just going to go general but I can tell you now that with this bill fewer family members are going to be working in the screen and film industry because no one's going to bring their productions here. In fact you're going to see more productions leave. If I could slightly personalise I too have family who are interested in this space. They don't work here. They live overseas and one of the reasons is that there are opportunities overseas. Unfortunately this bill by the Labour Government is not about the basics of employment because it's all about the unions—it's all about the unions. It's fulfilling effectively a promise I would suggest to the unions. Look as this bill passes—sorry. We're only at second reading but once we get through third reading—Hon David Bennett: It's not a promise; it's payback.SIMON O'CONNOR: I can't strictly suggest that across the House Mr Bennett. But it's a promise to the union and all we're going to end up with is a whole lot of happy unionists because they'll be running around earning their little pay cheques on behalf of Kiwis who are no longer able to work within the screen industry.Things are already tough in this space. Need I remind the other side of the House that we lost the contract with Amazon to do the latest Lord of the Rings series? Now there's a whole lot of reasons for that—there's a whole lot of reasons for that and let's be really clear that was before of course this legislation. But this legislation would make it even more certain that they would have gone quicker and it would make it even more difficult. One of the reasons these big screen industries leave is because things are just far far too difficult in New Zealand. The other side laugh because of course they don't really know anything about this because none of them really have run any businesses or anything. Most of them have been union hacks and that's fine. They're welcome to own that. But none of them have actually run screen productions and to be fair I haven't either. I can see my colleague here Melissa Lee who's actually got tons of experience.So fundamentally all this is doing is allowing the unions to go in and will negotiate massive substantial expensive contracts. They'll feel virtuous. They'll think they've done a great job. But the downside will be that we will not have a functioning screen industry.Now let's also be clear: the corollary is also true. We don't want a situation where particularly large screen production houses screw over New Zealanders. Let's be really clear about that. This is not about a race to the bottom and that's a real challenge. We had that debate when we passed what we know as the Hobbit laws". I recall actually at the time the Labour—they weren't the Government then thank God!—Party railing against the "Hobbit laws". But wasn't it funny to see them all on the red carpet at the premieres and so forth? There's a word for that which I'm not allowed to use in the House.So fundamentally giving so much power to the unions is going to make things incredibly expensive and it's not going to proceed. We're not going to see a thriving film or screen industry. But again let's be really clear for the record and have it on Hansard—it always helps—National is not supportive of a race to the bottom where our people in the screen and film industry are—you know to use the parlance—screwed over by the screen industries. But there is a happy balance. I would argue that the status quo is in that space.But it's still tough and that's where I want to return to—it's still tough. OK? We don't have as many screen productions here. Let's be clear and the other side should be aware of this it's barely got to do with the wages. OK that's a factor. Of course we want to pay these people more. But it might—they've gone quiet all of a sudden; very dramatic—also behove the Government to reflect on its continuing rules—mandates actually—which are screwing over the industry. If they went and talked to the Amazon executives and others part of the reason they couldn't get enough employees is they weren't allowing people into the country for God's sake! All the rules around their masks and all their supposed science around COVID—all of that—and this is again the final irony: while they're tinkering around for their union mates they're ignoring all the other factors which are slowing down our screen industry.Again one of them—and I'm just going to put the plea out there again—is to open the borders properly. I use that word "properly" because they've strictly opened the borders but as my colleague Erica Stanford pointed out basically no one's been allowed in regardless. The screen industries require hundreds and thousands of workers. It doesn't matter if they're directly in the screen industry right through to security they're not allowed in. And yet here we are again the Government tinkering on a bill for their union mates.So look obviously National opposes it. I think sadly we're going to see even fewer productions in this country and—where I started—for all those parents and family members and those on the left who decry that their children and friends can't get jobs well in the coming weeks and months they're going to be explaining to them more and more how the Labour Party has screwed them over and why their kids are still not getting jobs as they then say farewell to their children as they head overseas to Australia and Canada and other countries to get the jobs that they want. Thank you very much."