Genter Julie AnneHon JULIE ANNE GENTER (Green): Tēnā koe Madam Deputy Speaker. I really want to give a polite speech and I want to acknowledge the member who's had the bill drawn in her first few months of being an MP. I want to acknowledge that I'm sure that she thinks she's doing the right thing but it's really hard to respond politely to the speeches from the Opposition because they are so unbelievable. It's like an alternative reality. It's really hard to be polite. I'd love to take the Opposition seriously but I can't even respond politely because the honourable member Michael Woodhouse just said that if this legislation had passed we would be the most progressive country in the world. Well let me just read one submission OK—just the opening line of one submission. The executive summary from the submission on this bill when it was at select committee the first time it was there from the New Zealand Federation of Business and Professional Women (BPW) an international organisation with representatives in over 100 countries said Our organisation's aims are to link Professional and business women throughout the world so that they may provide support to each other lobby for change and promote the ongoing advancement of women and girls." They work for equal opportunities. Now what was their statement in the executive summary? "BPW NZ strongly disagrees with several key clauses in this Bill and believes that this legislation in its current form would be a step backward for the pay equality/equity cause. We believe for marginalised women in particular that this legislation would result in further discrimination." So there's a whole host of organisations who are expert on this issue who are not political—BPW isn't political. A bunch of you are probably members of BPW. They are not left or right. This seems to be the problem for the Opposition. It is they live in their own little world and completely refuse advice and have their own dreams about what this legislation would do. So let me just give a little history lesson for the members who weren't here when this legislation went through the first time. So in October 2015 the previous Government established a Joint Working Group on Pay Equity Principles which reported back on 7 June 2016. They didn't bring new legislation to the House for over a year after that group reported back. They sat on the advice from that working group and they waited until the day after—DEPUTY SPEAKER: I'd appreciate the member talking about the bill that's before the House not—Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: This is the bill. This is the bill the first time it was before the House. DEPUTY SPEAKER: The bill that is before the House now not history. Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: I think that it is worth—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Are you—is the member arguing with me? Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: Do you—DEPUTY SPEAKER: I am asking the member—Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: Can I ask a question? Point of order. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Would you sit down while I am standing. Thank you. I'm asking the member to come to discuss the bill before the House tonight; not the history. I've given the member some time but I do want the member to discuss the actual bill that's in front of the House. Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. The bill before the House right now is identical to a bill that was before the House—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Is this—that is not a point of order and you will not argue with the Speaker. Will you discuss the bill in front of the House. Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: Yes I'm happy to discuss the bill in front of the House and how all of the submitters previously said that this legislation was flawed and that's why the current Government withdrew that bill and it has reconvened the joint working group. It has already received recommendations that made specific points about merit and comparators that make this piece of legislation completely redundant and completely out of line with what Business New Zealand and the other members of the joint working group have recommended. So that is why this bill is completely useless and redundant and the member sponsoring it clearly has no understanding of the content or the context because literally no one apart from the National Party Opposition thinks this bill would advance the cause of pay equity. The very specific issues with the bill that BPW NZ raised had to do with the issues around establishing merit before a pay equity claim can proceed. This means proving that their part of the workforce is historically undervalued. The onus will solely be on the employee to prove all of this before bringing a pay equity claim and that is why this legislation was specifically designed in the first instance and again to make it harder for working women to be paid fairly. That is the universal opinion on this bill outside of the National Party Opposition and I'm so glad they're no longer in Government because this Government is already making real progress on pay equity for women. We have the recommendations from the joint working group which clearly saw the problems with this piece of legislation and we'll be introducing new legislation within the next few months that will actually make it easier for women to achieve the pay that they deserve. It is just unbelievable—unbelievable—that they claim that this piece of legislation is about fair pay when it is the opposite. It's putting in place barriers for the most marginalised women."