Auchinvole Chris: Minimum Wage (Starting-out Wage) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Auchinvole Chris: Minimum Wage (Starting-out Wage) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 18 October 2012. Volume:684;Page:6016. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CHRIS AUCHINVOLE (National) 
: 
 As always it is a pleasure to take over from Brendan Horan who has just finished speaking—albeit that he did have a bit of a dampener on his own speech towards the end. In fact you should always avoid raining on your own parade. 
I must say having listened to the speeches as I stand to speak in favour of the Minimum Wage (Starting-out Wage) Amendment Bill that I have been disappointed to hear the speeches from the other side. Talk about dampening their own ardour. This bill should be something that they support. 
Andrew Little 
: What would they say in Glasgow? 
CHRIS AUCHINVOLE 
: Why is it that is all we hear from Andrew Little a nice person in every other way—I am left wondering whether it is just paid-up trade unionists who warrant Labour’s support rather than job seekers. This is a bill to assist young job seekers. I can well remember when I got my first job that I was delighted to get a job. It was a pretty straightforward one—once a week helping a stallholder pack up his stall. I was delighted to get going. This bill gets young people on the first rung on the job ladder. This is a bill that addresses real problems and creates real opportunities for people who are not locked in the comfort of being paid-up members of a union with Andrew Little and the Labour Party to look after them. 
 This starting-out wage is a great step forward from the unpopular and unworkable new-entrant wage brought in by Labour the party whose current composition and leadership could also be described as unpopular and unworkable and it is demonstrating it again in the way its members speak about this bill. The new-entrant wage Labour introduced had an abysmal uptake of 2 percent amongst employers and that is not good enough. 
That poor uptake and the 9000 jobs for young people that were lost as we heard from Jami-Lee Ross according to Department of Labour research in 2008 after the Labour Party’s move to abolish the youth wage show Labour’s lack of confidence in our young people and in the dignity of work. The people who go on to this starting-out wage will be getting more money than they would get on the benefit. Why does Labour not want them to get more money? I will tell you why: because those members like people on benefits. They like people on benefits. They like areas that are not doing terribly well. It is most unfortunate. This starting-out wage will help inexperienced workers get a foot on the job ladder helping them set themselves up for meaningful employment. Everyone of that age on a benefit will be better off on the starting-out wage. 
We heard from Minister Ryall how it will be better for their health. That is a reality. It is not made up. I listened to Holly Walker. I was disappointed that there is some sort of virtue assumed in opposing this bill. It is a very positive bill. It will help the very people whom Ms Walker is espousing to help without helping. She is virtually saying that you are better off being on the benefit because then we can feel sorry for you. 
The National Government is committed to creating an environment that encourages economic growth and employment both of which this policy actively promotes. But it is not only this bill that promotes a more prosperous and encouraging employment environment; the starting-out wage should be seen as part of the wider package of initiatives to help young people into work. These have already been mentioned by other speakers on this side of the House. Let us talk about them a little bit more: the 90-day trial period creating more than 13000 jobs; increased flexibility in the Holidays Act and goodness knows why that was opposed by Labour; the Government raising the minimum wage every year with a balanced approach; and so it goes on. 
Let me close by saying that we have heard much hyperbole and uniform negativity from the Opposition around this bill. It is negativity that reminds me of something those members seem to be forgetting: we as slightly older people should not be afraid of the ambitious young; we should be encouraging them and that is what this bill does. Thank you.