Roy Heather: Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
Roy Heather: Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
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Hon HEATHER ROY (ACT) 
: 
 I rise to speak to the second reading of the Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill. The ACT Party will be supporting this bill as we have already indicated. I will not use my full 10 minutes but I will make some brief comments about what was said by the member we have just heard from Dr Russel Norman. The capacity that people have to turn what they have seen happening into an argument that suits themselves is amazing is it not? We have heard all sorts of things about the unions and I will come back to them. 
Firstly I say to the Green member that those who participated on our behalf in the battles commemorated around this debating chamber—not that they knew they were doing that at the time or knew what would happen in the future—were fighting for freedom. That freedom extends to freedom in the area of employment. What we see in this legislation is a clarification of the sort of arrangement that somebody wants to have with the person who is paying him or her. That might be in an employment capacity with an employer and an employee or it might be a different sort of arrangement that somebody wants to have in terms of having a contract. This legislation clarifies the difference between those two arrangements and that is a good thing. 
My regret with this bill is that it is called the Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill. I would like to have seen this bill called the “Employment Relations Amendment Bill” and to see this provision apply not just to film workers but also to all across the board. That would have had me standing here very proudly on my feet to say that we were doing the right thing for the entire population of New Zealand not just for those employed in the film industry. But this is a very good start. We will see what will happen with this bill because who knows where it might lead. That is certainly the hope of the ACT Party. 
I would like to come back to some comments made by the Green Party member who was the previous speaker on the unions. I ask how he could have possibly turned such an abortive attempt by the unions to do something positive for New Zealand into something that was completely counter-productive. It is also why we find ourselves in this very debating chamber tonight when members could have been off home at 6 p.m. as they normally are on a Thursday evening. They could have been back in their constituencies serving all New Zealanders not just trying to patch up a botched job due to the inadequate actions of the unions. We had people here from Australia. Do members think that the chappie from Australia actually had any intention of helping New Zealanders get  
The Hobbit 
 made here? Absolutely not. He had not a jot of an intention of doing that. 
Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: He said he didn’t care. 
Hon HEATHER ROY 
: That is exactly right; I thank Dr Coleman. The chappie from Australia said that he did not care whether  
The Hobbit 
 was filmed in New Zealand. The reason we are here tonight is the parties on this side of the House—the National Party the ACT Party I think United Future and definitely the Maori Party—care about having  
The Hobbit 
 filmed here and that is why we are supporting this bill. 
I regret that this legislation will apply only to the film production industry. It should apply across the board to all New Zealanders so that they can choose what sort of employment circumstances they want. I will end my call there. ACT will support this legislation and we think for the very right reasons this is an important move for New Zealand.