Calder Cam: Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCalder Cam: Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 17 April 2013. Volume:689;Page:9474. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr CAM CALDER (National): It is a pleasure to rise and speak on the Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill. I wish to acknowledge the contribution of my colleague Barbara Stewart across the House—a very eloquent presentation. However it has not been enough to get me to change my mind on this bill despite the eloquence. I wish to acknowledge Grant Robertson and Dr David Clark because it is always a pleasure to have a bill come before the House that one has crafted in Grant’s case—before he handed it on to Dr David Clark. I am hoping to have my own bill come quite soon to this House and I look forward to that. So I can empathise with the work done by Dr David Clark.Despite the eloquence of previous speakers I have a visceral distaste for this bill and I was just searching back as to why this should be. I guess the reason comes from the huge respect I have—and I am not suggesting other people in the House do not have that—for members of our armed forces men and women who have served. Where does this stem from? I spoke in the House some weeks ago on this very bill. My grandfather served in the Boer War. So I grew up being aware of the sacrifices made by actually thousands of New Zealanders very early in our history—Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman: The Boer war? Crikey.Dr CAM CALDER: In the Boer War—in the Boer War.Hon Member: Which side?Dr CAM CALDER: He was a member of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles. He had to take his own horse as I recall. He used to entertain me as a young lad with storiesupon his knee. As I was growing up—I lost my dad when I was 6—I was taught to shoot and I built a pram dinghy with my neighbour Ron Carr now deceased whom I would like to pay tribute to in this House who was a World War II veteran and who also served in the Korean War. I remember playing in the back garden with a Japanese jungle carbine that he had miraculously brought back from the campaign that he served in. I learnt how to handle weapons with him going out shooting rabbits in the foothills of Mount Egmont as we used to call it then or Mount Taranaki. Both names pertained at that stage. Look this background is just trying to shape my distaste for this bill because I have always honoured this day. Anzac Day has stood alone—Hon Members: We all have.Dr CAM CALDER: I know you are saying across the House that it in no way detracts—personally I believe it was raised above other days of significance by the fact that is was not always a holiday. I felt and I have said it in this House before that that was a way we could give credit and acknowledge the sacrifice made by generations who have gone before and who in many cases paid the ultimate price. For us to give up a holiday once in a blue moon is no sacrifice at all. So that is shaping my view.I also did a territorial officer selection board as a young lad and became a member of “the blue berets”. As many of you know “the blue berets” are the members of the Otago University Medical Company who went off to serve in Viet Nam. At the time when they were called—two officers went every year—I would have gone were it not for the fact that fortunately for the Viet Namese the peace process intervened. For a young lad from the Naki who was keen to go and serve in a medical corps it was a huge disappointment for me personally but a great joy for everybody else involved in that horrible ugly conflict. We were going to patch people up not to lay waste to them.Todd McClay: You’re not a very good shot.Dr CAM CALDER: As has been pointed out by my colleague Todd McClay with one eye I probably wasn’t a very good shot but that was not what we were going there for.It is probably appropriate to mention the extremely hard work done by one of the legendary chairmen of select committees. I refer of course to David Bennett. David Bennett is a legendary chairman of select committees and it was his Transport and Industrial Relations Committee that saw the submissions and dealt with submissions. Were there many? There were not many. In fact only 32 submissions on this bill were received: 18 submitters supported the bill and 12 submitters opposed the bill. The chairman has actually pointed out that there were some good arguments for and against this bill. There were arguments that came through in opposition to the bill. So what were some of these key themes?Well as we have heard the bill would create additional costs. And what would some of these costs be? The cost to the employers estimated by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment is an estimated impact of $220 million to $280 million. That is not insignificant. The cost to the whole economy output estimated by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research is $134 million to $186 million. These are not insignificant. So that was one of the thoughts. Some of the submitters thought that it might diminish the significance of Waitangi Day and Anzac Day. It could create further unfairness it could create further confusion—these were some of the comments made—and it could encourage a change in shift and roster patterns. Those were themes coming out in opposition to the bill.One of the submitters in opposition was Business New Zealand. If I can be a little bit more specific here some of the points it made in its submissions are as follows. In its opposition to change it said there was little basis for change. I have to accept that. Imean this is a meaty beefy big and bouncy compact and perky little member’s bill. I have already paid my respects to Grant Robertson and to Dr David Clark as well.Anzac Day and Waitangi Day are noted by the submitters Business New Zealand as being specific to New Zealand and as commemorative days. Business New Zealand makes the point that “This is in contrast to Christmas Day and New Year’s Day which are not”—and this is a surprising point and it has a point here—“days of significance for every New Zealander.” It made that point in its submission.Easter Monday is another example of another holiday contrasted with these days. In this case Easter Monday was created to provide people with a holiday—[Interruption] Can we have a little bit of hush please? It was created to provide people with a holiday as it was previously uncommon to work on Easter Sunday. The submitter considers the title of the bill to be “inapt” as the original purpose of both days was to recognise their special nature. The submitter references the 1921 Anzac Day Amendment Bill and the 1960 Waitangi Day Act.Business New Zealand did acknowledge in its even-handed way that the tourism industry would benefit but it noted that other businesses are concerned about the potential costs and we have talked about how much that would be. I notice that Business New Zealand’s submission is supported by the National Association of Retail Grocers and Supermarkets of New Zealand. So there is a very strong submission and the overwhelming number of submissions were actually against this. In contrast the tourism industry supports this bill and it suggested that it may actually stimulate domestic tourism and would be affordable for business while increasing the importance of Waitangi Day and Anzac Day.One of the things that people have raised in the House and in closing I would just like to address this is that somehow it was thought that New Zealand was out of step with the rest of the world in the number of public holidays. Well in fact we are not. The United States has 10 and no minimum annual paid leave. The United Kingdom has eight. Australia has eight and 20 days’ annual paid leave—the same as New Zealand. So there are arguments for and agin this bill but I remain implacably opposed thereto.