Goff Phil: Fisheries (Foreign Charter Vessels and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeGoff Phil: Fisheries (Foreign Charter Vessels and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 15 April 2014. Volume:698;Page:17296. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]I do not want to go much further without adding to the observance we have already made of the passing of the late Rt Hon Sir Owen Woodhouse who will go down I think as one of the very small number of truly great New Zealanders for the contribution he has made in so many respects. But here we are exactly 40 years and 2 weeks on from the introduction of the accident compensation scheme and we hear the news this evening about his passing. I think that is a matter that no doubt this House will take greater note of in the next day or two.Turning to this bill without wanting to take up too much more of my time the Fisheries (Foreign Charter Vessels and Other Matters) Amendment Bill is a good bill because it addresses what has been a very shameful aspect of our primary industry. That part of our primary industry has involved overseas operators as well. Even more disappointing is that some of those overseas operators have been here at the behest of domestic companies and indeed even of iwi and Māori organisations. It is good that following the inquiry conducted by the Hon Paul Swain after he had left this House of course—they check out but they never really leave these MPs—Hon Phil Goff: Just like “Hotel California”.ANDREW LITTLE: Just like “Hotel California”. The conclusions of that inquiry were quite damning of what was happening in this industry. We actually knew it was happening. The stories were legend. We knew the harm caused to working people migrant workers was absolutely shocking. This bill is a step towards addressing that. I acknowledge the work not only of Paul Swain but also of the previous fisheries Minister David Carter who had the courage to announce that this was the direction that was going to be taken and took the initial steps of getting this bill drafted.But I do however share with my colleague Darien Fenton just one point of caution. We know that at the heart of this bill in clause 4 are the amendments to section 103 of the Fisheries Act 1996. Section 103 sets out a number of conditions that have to be met. The chief executive of the Ministry for Primary Industries has to be satisfied they are met before allowing a foreign vessel to operate here. It includes amongst other things labour standards. But section 103(5)(d) and (e) of the existing Act also refer to labour inspectors under the Employment Relations Act being able to do inspections and enforce those rights. But the reality is that our labour inspectorate has been so badly run down under this Government—our labour inspectorate is an 0800 number; that is all it is. It is not going to be good enough for migrant crews when they come here under this new regime to be issued with a cellphone and asked to ring an 0800 number when they are on the high seas. That will not help.We need to know and in the remaining debates on this bill we will be seeking assurances that the department will be properly resourced so that inspectors can be placed on these vessels so that these labour rights are properly observed and respected. These workers coming here to work in New Zealand do so knowing that they are coming to a country that proudly upholds its reputation as a country of good labour standards but that reputation is under threat for reasons other than just migrant labour on our fishing vessels.But let us be clear about it. When we have migrant workers coming here to work whether on land or offshore they have to know that if they are mistreated or if their conditions statutory or contractual are breached there is a means and a mechanism for them to have those conditions enforced. The Maritime Union does some of it under the auspices of the International Shipping Federation but that is not enough. We need to be sure that our own domestic inspectorate is capable of enforcing these rights and upholding their dignity.