Logie Jan: Minimum Wage (Contractor Remuneration) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLogie Jan: Minimum Wage (Contractor Remuneration) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 12 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5749. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JAN LOGIE (Green): Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. The Green Party is very pleased to be able to support the Minimum Wage (Contractor Remuneration) Amendment Bill. I would like to acknowledge and thank David Parker for getting this bill drawn—his first in 13 years I understand. They say good things take time. The Government sadly though has already indicated that it will not be supporting this bill. For a party that says it is about addressing child poverty a party that says it is about a strong economy and a party that says it is sympathetic to the intent of this bill I am struggling to understand why it cannot at least support the bill’s referral to the select committee.The arguments that I have heard so far from listening to the members on the other side of this House are pretty much that it would create too much paperwork for business and well that would be a disincentive for employing people. That really is an indication of where power lies in this country. Earning less than the minimum wage is not stopping people taking those jobs at the moment because they are desperate for work and of course with more and more people being required by Work and Income to take these contracts there is no choice. That is OK in our country—that people are paid less than the minimum wage for skilled jobs. Yet on the other hand a bit more paperwork for employers and the Government says: “Hold on. That is not right. We cannot support that.” I think there is a bit of a power problem here.We have also heard from the member Sarah Dowie that employees need flexibility which is why we should not support this bill. I am really not sure when flexibility included wanting to be paid less than the minimum wage. She also said that work brings people out of poverty. Again I think she is missing the point of this bill which is to try and make that true. Sadly that is not true at the moment because so much work is short-term part-time contract work that is paid below the minimum wage—precarious work on very low wages. We know that two out of five children in poverty in this country are living in families where their parents work.Work is not a pathway out of poverty in this country with the way our employment laws are. This bill is a chance. It is not going to fix that problem but it sets a pretty basic standard so that when we say “minimum wage” that is actually what we mean and we deliver on. The Green Party believes that as a condition of a decent society people should be able to get a fair wage a living wage for their work and that we as a country should be actively seeking to eliminate structures that perpetuate discrimination and inequality.I am very pleased to see home-care workers specifically covered by this bill because this is an area of massive exploitation in this country. It is a largely female workforce a workforce with many Māori Pacific as well as migrant workers. It is a skilled and physically and emotionally demanding job with a huge amount of trust and responsibility in the hands of those workers. It is clear that it is so poorly paid only because caring work has traditionally been considered women’s work and therefore outside of the mainstream economy. We do not live in the 1950s any more. These women deserve to have their pay packet reflect their skill and value. The minimum wage goes nowhere near achieving that goal but by God it is an absolute bare minimum that this House could deliver on.The Government has been tipping employment policy and law framework more and more in favour of the lowest common denominator employers. It is time that stopped. The Green Party is pleased to stand and offer our support to a bill that will make a difference to the working poor in this country. Kia ora.