Sowry Roger: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Sowry Roger: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:616;Page:11715] 
8.  
Hon ROGER SOWRY (National) 
 to the  
Minister of Labour 
: Has he received any reports that state that the proposed amendments to the Employment Relations Act 2000 will help achieve the Government’s stated goal of returning New Zealand to the top half of the OECD per capita income tables; if so who were those reports received from? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN (Minister of Labour) 
: 
 I have received a range of reports on that matter from officials and others. As the explanatory note of the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill states the bill is designed to promote productive employment relationships which should lead to increased employee involvement and commitment at the workplace level. In turn this should result in increased productivity and investment in human resources and should ultimately lead to improved employment growth and the distribution of earnings. 
Hon Roger Sowry 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. As you know we have a limited number of questions. This question was given this morning in writing to the Minister and it is quite specific. It states: “… if so who were those reports received from?”. The Minister got up and said he has received the reports “from officials and others”. For a question that he had notice of in writing that answer is not anywhere near specific enough. It requires us to ask again to use up questions to receive information that we should expect now given the preparation time that the Minister has had. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The Minister might like to define the term “others” a little more fully. The rest of the answer is in order. 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: There are a series of others. One would be the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions for example. 
Hon Roger Sowry 
: Has the Minister seen the December 2003 OECD country report on New Zealand which devotes two pages to talking about the risks to higher productivity posed by the Government’s moves towards more and more rigid labour markets; if so why is he still persisting with this flawed legislation? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Yes I have seen those reports. I also note that growth in New Zealand since the time of the Employment Relations Act has been pretty good—not as good as what we would ultimately like but not bad even compared with growth in the years under the Employment Contracts Act. 
Hon Mark Gosche 
: Has the Minister taken any particular steps to boost workplace productivity; if so what? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Yes. I have recently announced the establishment of a workplace productivity work group to look at ways of improving workplace productivity. Although economic growth rates have improved over the past 15 years this has largely been driven by stronger employment growth rather than improved productivity. Current economic conditions such as skill shortages and relatively high labour participation rates suggest that improvements in productivity will be the key to lifting economic growth even further. A highly skilled workforce will enable New Zealand to be more productive and competitive in the global economy and contribute to economic growth. 
Peter Brown 
: If this bill is principally aimed at productive employment relationships as the Minister has just suggested what is the reason for denying non-union people the right to have a collective contract if they so desire? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Collective contracts by definition in the Employment Relations Act are those negotiated by unions. 
Peter Brown 
: In Australia they don’t. 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: I am sure this is a matter that people are making submissions on. I think the member is a member of that select committee and I am hoping it will come back with recommendations in due course. 
Sue Bradford 
: Has the Minister read any reports that indicate that countries with higher disposable incomes per capita like Austria Norway France Switzerland and Australia actually have less flexible wage-bargaining processes than New Zealand currently does; and does the Minister believe that current reforms will boost both incomes and productivity in this country? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Yes I have seen some reports on particularly productivity growth and economic growth in countries throughout Europe with more inflexible labour markets but I think there are a whole lot of factors to economic growth—not just the labour market. We have to try to maintain a balance between the rights and ability of people to get decent incomes on the one hand and the flexibility that is required for a modern international labour force. 
Hon Roger Sowry 
: Does the Minister agree with his colleague the Hon Mark Gosche who commented last week that the $763 million that the Government provides to low-income workers as income support was in fact “a subsidy for business in order to allow them to keep wages low” and is that the sort of logic that is behind the amendments to the Employment Relations Act? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Yes I have seen that comment and I have not yet had the opportunity to discuss it fully and frankly with my colleague. I think the point the member was trying to make ultimately was that if we have productive employment relationships we have productive firms and if we have productive firms we have hopefully a productive nation. 
Hon Roger Sowry 
: Has the Minister seen the comments made by Simon Carlaw of Business New Zealand at the select committee hearings on the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill that the cost of employment-related issues to business in 2002-03 was conservatively costed at about $665 million or 0.5 percent of gross domestic product and would increase to between $865 million and $995 million; if so how can he allow this bill to continue? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Yes I have seen that statement in that report. I note that Mr Carlaw says that that is what he thinks and he is asking people to prove him wrong. I will take it up with him this afternoon when I meet him and I am also writing to him to get the methodology the research and any modelling that has been done by Business New Zealand to come to those figures so that we can include them in our general consideration of the bill.