Sabin Mike: Minimum Wage (Starting-out Wage) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Sabin Mike: Minimum Wage (Starting-out Wage) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 21 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8869. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
MIKE SABIN (National—Northland) 
: 
 We have heard from both the Labour Party and the Greens about people leaving in droves to go to Australia. Well I ask members of this House: why? Mining—mining and the opportunities that mining brings. Yet both those parties in the last debate voted against the very bill the Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill that will open up the opportunities for people here in New Zealand. So it is a little bit rich when those members get up on that moral high ground that they seem to think they should occupy and start voting against a bill like this the Minimum Wage (Starting-out Wage) Amendment Bill. 
New Zealand has got some real challenges around youth unemployment and there are a number of reasons for that. Two of the primary reasons are the global financial crisis and the economic impact of the Christchurch earthquakes. When the employment market gets tough it gets tough for employers and the follow-on for that is employees. Who is right at the bottom of that ladder? Unfortunately it is young people who lack the skills and lack the work experience and they are often most hard hit when times are tough. This is not unique to this Government—this is not unique at all. This is something that you clearly see evidence of when times get tough so we have to meet that challenge. When employers are struggling the reality is that they have to sail closer to the breeze; their margins are less. So what do they do? They look at ways in which they can be innovative and ensure that they can produce the products that will yield the profits that help them employ and grow their business. When you have youngsters who lack experience who lack the job skills and who lack even a simple work ethic that often only comes when people are in work and then you have employers looking to take someone on and on balance they have someone who has more skills who has a work track record and who has experience the choice becomes a very easy one for an employer. What we need to do what is incumbent on members in this House is ensure that employers have the appropriate incentives have the appropriate assistance to give those young people a chance. That is exactly what this bill is about—it is exactly what this bill is about. 
I know that members on the other side of the House agree with this because one Darien Fenton in 2007 was on record on  
Hansard 
 saying this: “the inexperience of first-time workers or new entrants deserves the recognition of a short period while the new worker becomes more socialised to work.” They deserve the recognition of a short period while the new worker becomes more socialised to work. Well I thank the member Darien Fenton for agreeing on what this bill is about and I commend this bill. We have heard the Opposition saying this is classic National Party. Well you know what? The classic Labour Party’s failed socialist ideology is why it is there and this National Government is getting on with what needs to be done.