Mackey Moana: Holidays Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Mackey Moana: Holidays Amendment Bill — First Reading 
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MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 Mr Henare has just demonstrated why he carries the mantle of the worst union organiser in the history of the universe—in the history of the universe. I know he wears that mantle with pride. His speech showed everything that is wrong with the current National Government. He just does not get it. If he asked workers whether they would like to be allowed to keep their 4 weeks’ annual leave and be able to afford to pay the bills he would hear that that would be their preference. Tau Henare has the gall to get up in this House and brag about the fact that this National Government has made it so hard for hard-working Kiwi families to pay their bills. It will be harder when the rate of GST goes up in October and when the inflation rate hits nearly 6 percent as Treasury says it will. Well I tell Mr Henare that he should not be proud of the fact that workers feel that they have to cash in a week of their holidays in order to be able to pay the bills. There is nothing to be proud of when workers have no choice but to trade in holidays—time with their families time with their friends time to recharge so that they can be more productive in the workplace—because they cannot afford to pay the bills. 
The tax cuts that Mr Henare’s National Government recently passed do not benefit the average working family; they benefit overwhelmingly the top 5 percent of income earners. In this debate we are not talking about those people who will benefit most from the tax cuts; we are talking about the average working families who will get all of the cost increases. In a desperate attempt to deflect any kind of criticism about that the great answer from the National Government is that workers can cash in a week’s holiday. 
I think we need to come back to the really fundamental point of why we have annual holidays. Why do we have them? There is absolute silence from National members—absolute silence. We have them because we realise that people need downtime. 
Jacqui Dean 
: Sorry sorry! 
MOANA MACKEY 
: Oh now they are pretending that they were not listening. 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: Never repeat a question. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: I say to Mr Brownlee that I can repeat my question but I guarantee that he will not answer it. In fact he would probably pass it off to Bill English because apparently the Minister for Economic Development does not have to answer questions about economic development anymore. I ask why he is paid quarter of a million dollars a year when he will not set milestones for economic development or answer questions on economic development. That is a question that the voters of New Zealand will have to answer. 
We need to ask why we have annual leave. We have annual leave because we recognise that it is crucial for productivity in the workplace. Workers need to be rested. They need time with their families. They need time with their children. Countries around the world have recognised those reasons in far greater measure and they have greater annual leave entitlements than New Zealand has. We had to fight very hard to get a fourth week of annual leave. So we must agree that annual leave has value in terms of productivity in the workplace and the health and well-being of our families. 
John Key said that long hours at work having both parents in employment childcare shortages growing interest rates and rising bills can create a far from ideal environment for good parenting and healthy family relationships. If the Prime Minister thought that a couple of years ago then why he does now think those healthy family relationships and those relationships with children are less important when because his own actions childcare shortages are increasing? The cost of childcare will increase because of the Government’s cuts. Interest rates will grow. The cost of living is increasing. Household bills are rising. All the things the Prime Minister talked about 2 years ago are far worse under this Government. I ask why he now thinks that time away from work is no longer important for good parenting and for healthy family relationships. Everyone knows that it is. 
The reality is that this legislation is a smokescreen. Our workers need decent wages. Then they would not feel as though they have to cash in 1 week’s annual leave because they cannot put food on the table or a roof over their children’s heads. That is not a choice but this Government says that this is about choice. National members need to get out into the real world and talk to people who have no choice. The Minister of Labour can sit in her ivory tower in Wellington and say that this is about choice and workers being allowed to decide between annual leave and the money— 
Hon Kate Wilkinson 
: It’s voluntary. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: It is not voluntary. If people are living day to day on the breadline if they are running the risk of losing their homes if they cannot put food on the table then it is not a choice. It is not a choice. This Government has never understood that fact when it comes to industrial relations because its members have always had choices. They have always had choices so they believe that everyone else must have the same choices that they have. As I said they need to get out into the real world and talk to people who do not have the choice. Workers will not want to cash in their annual leave; they will do it because economically they have no other choice and because this Government has abandoned them. This Government did not give them significant tax cuts. Someone on the minimum wage will get only $3 a week. That will be more than swallowed up by the increase in GST let alone inflation rent and all the other cost increases that have come under this Government’s watch. Yet the Minister of Labour says that those people have choices. Well the Minister needs to get out and talk to a few more people. I very very strongly feel that she does not know what she is talking about in this regard. 
It is interesting that the Government says that this measure is voluntary and that it cannot be a condition of employment. Well that is exactly what the Minister said about the 90-day trial period legislation which says that just because an employer does not like a worker the employer can get rid of the worker even if that person is doing a fantastic job. That bill has legitimised discrimination in the workplace—that is all it has done. Trial periods have always been in New Zealand law. The only thing that this Government has done in respect of trial periods is say that employers can now get rid of employees for being pregnant for being gay or for a number of other reasons. As long as employers do not give a reason to employees they cannot complain about it. The Minister said that that provision would be voluntary just as she is saying that this provision is voluntary. In respect of the 90-day trial period employers were actually advertising jobs by saying that employees had to agree to a trial period to take the job. The Minister said that the choice was to have a job or not to have a job. That is not choice I say to the Minister just as this is not a choice. 
I would like to know from the next National speaker how the Government will guarantee that this will not be used as a condition of employment. We know what will happen. It will be used in lieu of a wage increase. There will not be a wage increase. Instead employees will be told that they will get their fourth week of annual leave cashed up or nothing. That is what they will be told. We know that will happen. The Minister knows that will happen. She does not care. She will stand up and go on about how this provision is all about choice when she knows that it is not about choice and when she knows that it will only drive wages down further and make workplaces less productive. 
As it is we work our workers to the bone. Our workers work really really hard for the money they earn. They do not earn a lot of money and under this Government they expect to earn even less. We are falling further and further behind Australia which this Government used to hold up as the promised land that we were going to catch up to. Well the Australian public knows that undermining workers’ rights and entitlements does not lead to productivity and does not lead to wealth. The Howard Government was kicked out when it brought in work choices because workers knew the value of those entitlements. 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: That’s why they embraced Labor last weekend. They just reached out and loved them to bits—unbelievable! What an incredibly trite analysis that is. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: That is why the current Liberal Party I say to Mr Brownlee has not said that it will bring back the work choices policy; it knows how unpopular it was. The Liberal Party said that it would not bring back that policy because the Australian public spoke very strongly about it. They knew the value of those entitlements for their families and for their workplaces. 
My colleague Lynne Pillay talked about the new requirements for sick leave. Under the current law employers can require a medical certificate for sick leave. If employers have reasonable grounds to believe that someone is rorting the system or is not actually sick they can require a medical certificate. That seems fair enough if there are reasonable grounds. As with a lot of things that this Government does all it is doing is removing reasonable grounds. Under this legislation an employer can require a medical certificate on unreasonable grounds or on utterly ridiculous grounds; in fact any grounds whatsoever can be grounds for a medical certificate. If employees do not get the certificate they can face disciplinary action. Does the Minister know how hard it is to see a general practitioner in winter? It is even harder now that they are all leaving under this Government’s watch because it is far too difficult and because the Government is unwinding primary health organisations. But for workers to face disciplinary action because they cannot see a doctor when they should just be at home in bed getting well and not going to work and making everyone else sick shows how illogical this legislation is.