Roberts AngelaANGELA ROBERTS (Labour): Kia ora. Thank you. I'm really pleased to be taking a call on this Holidays (Increasing Sick Leave) Amendment Bill. Despite everybody declaring that the sky is falling it is not. We did have time in the select committee to consider the consequences of this bill and tonight I want to remind you of some of the gains. People keep talking about cost; I want to tell you about some of the gains that businesses as well as workers told us would come with increasing sick leave to 10 days the reasons why five days are simply not enough.We heard some really intensely personal stories from workers who are really vulnerable who themselves have ongoing health or disability issues or are caregivers either of their own children or of their parents or of their brother or sister and they use up their sick leave really quickly. It can be something as simple as a child with conjunctivitis—can't go to school. You get it; you can't go to work. It doesn't take long for five days to disappear. We heard some really powerful stories from some really articulate people—some of our poorest paid most vulnerable precariat mainly women. The decisions that they need to make—they're not decisions being made in the best interests of public health; rather they're deciding whether to stay home with a toddler or by themselves to get well and not share their infections their germs with others or whether to pay the rent or whether to quit their job or whether to take unpaid leave or personal debt.We heard from an amazing young woman who is a home care worker and she talked about the incredible guilt and tension of knowing she shouldn't go to work because she was unwell and she was putting her clients at risk her colleagues at risk. But she couldn't afford to do it or she would be sleeping in her car which is certainly not the best way to get over the flu. It was a powerful testimony and it is one that we must ensure has an impact on this legislation.Some have signalled or indicated—suggested—that COVID isn't an excuse to have something that should just be temporary; the extra five days should be temporary because it's just about COVID. But we did have temporary responses put into place. We've got the short-term absence payment and the leave support scheme. Rather what COVID has done is it's highlighted a couple of things. The Minister spoke earlier about our tough it out" culture and how that is not good for anyone. Staying at home keeps others safe: you don't catch a bus to work; you don't cough on your clients or on your co-workers.I need to talk about this being good business sense. We've heard from people on the other side of the House talk about the cost when I know from having grown up in an entrepreneurial household that the biggest investment an employer can make is in their workers. I know that. And so this is about improving productivity. When you work while you are sick the evidence is quite clear: your productivity drops by about 20 percent. This is understood elsewhere on the planet. Australia Norway Sweden Finland Spain etc. have at least 10 days. We heard evidence from Frog Recruitment—a woman who said that she has given her workers unlimited sick leave. Oh no the sky's going to fall in! They're going to be taking leave willy-nilly! But the element of trust actually meant that her workers knew that she believed in them and that they were going to look after themselves and take themselves and their job seriously and they would stay home and get well. And she found that they took fewer sick days. Maybe it had something to do with that they weren't coming into work and getting their co-workers sick. And very simply it allows us to meet the societal expectations for reasonable conditions for all workers in New Zealand.The last thing I'd like to talk about is actually the impact on our children. We did hear from the Privacy Commissioner and we heard from mothers we heard from teachers we heard from unions about the incredibly difficult decision of sending kids to school when they are sick because you cannot afford to not be at work. That child does not have an opportunity to get well. They get long-term implications illness things like glue ear because they do not have an opportunity to stay home and keep well. If parents can take time off and look after them without those financial burdens without the cost being able to pay the rent and put the kai on the table it has an impact on the wellbeing of children's lives. I know from being a secondary school teacher the impact on our young adults when they have to stay home from school and look after their youngest siblings or their nana because mum has to go to work and do a shift. So because it is best for productivity it is best for our workers it is best for our tamariki it is best for our society I wholeheartedly commend this bill to the House."