Brown Peter: Minimum Wage (New Entrants) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Brown Peter: Minimum Wage (New Entrants) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:641;Page:11599] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 The sponsor of the Minimum Wage (New Entrants) Amendment Bill Sue Bradford must feel very flattered. This afternoon’s proceedings started with a message from the Governor-General. We could not work out why the Governor-General had sent a message about the bill. New Zealand First members were mystified. We concluded that the Crown must have been underpaying Prince William and Prince Harry for some time and did not want to get caught by the net. But the mundane reason was given to us in due course. We would still like to compliment Sue Bradford. She stuck to this issue and was determined to deliver. She wanted to go a bit further than this bill goes but she has accepted it—finally because I know that at one time she was going to reject it. She has accepted the bill as a reasonable compromise. I think it reflects her efforts very well and is a very reasonable compromise. 
I have to say that I am disappointed with the National Party. Those guys could and should be doing better. [ 
Interruption 
] They should be doing better. There is a new member over there David Bennett; if he sat and listened for a little while then he would understand that the National Party is putting itself in a terrible predicament when it comes to dealing with young people or indeed people generally in the workforce. Wayne Mapp understands that. The National Party has never been supportive of a minimum wage in concept. 
Dr Wayne Mapp 
: We have never opposed it. 
PETER BROWN 
: Well the National Party has never opposed a minimum wage but when National was in power between 1990 and 1996 the minimum wage went up—members should listen to this—by 25c. The minimum wage went up by 25c in 6 years! But to ensure that it was distributed fairly they introduced the youth minimum wage at 60 percent in 1994. Then New Zealand First came on the scene in 1997 and we increased the minimum wage by a relatively massive 62.5c. We are talking about a minimum wage of $7 after we had increased it. It went up under Labour to $9.50 in 2005 and by 2008 it will be $12. By and large young people will be on this minimum wage. It will be a significant help to young people and particularly to the young people whom I know that Sue Bradford is concerned about who actually work to help their family. 
The concern we have—and I want to be absolutely honest about it; that is why this intermediary step of a new entrants rate is acceptable to New Zealand First—is that we do not want a wage that will discourage people from staying at school and advancing their education. If we could give three assets to a young person on the verge of leaving school they would be education education education. [ 
Interruption 
] The member over there David Bennett thinks that that is a joke. I bet he stayed at school and got his education. He probably got it free on the taxpayer. 
Hon Mark Gosche 
: He’s a lawyer. 
PETER BROWN 
: He’s a lawyer is he? 
Hon Mark Gosche 
: It was a waste of time educating him. 
PETER BROWN 
: Yes. The National Party should also understand this issue because just about every other party understands it. Most employers are quite happy to see the minimum wage go up—maybe not for the early stages of a career but certainly very quickly. They do not see it as a restriction they want on age. In fact I think Kate Wilkinson told us last time she spoke on this bill in the Chamber that 85 percent of employers are quite happy to pay the minimum wage to young people across the board. The National Party does not even give credence to the employers. 
It is fair to say that some small employers will be upset by the passage of this bill because they like to think they give youngsters a chance and after 200 hours or 3 months—whichever comes first—they will be compelled to pay the full adult minimum wage. They tell us—and there is a degree of truth in this and it is a worrying degree of truth—that young people when they first go into the workforce do not place a priority on the business or on the work in hand; they place it more on their lifestyle and on their after-work activities. As a result some of the young people are unreliable and some of them are not as well dressed as perhaps they are required to be when they come to work. A lady made a submission to the select committee along those lines. I thought it was very well put. Hers was a concern that certainly registered with me. 
At the end of the day we have to make sure that youngsters get a fair go. We recognise that there should be adult wages for adult work. I think that is the term Sue Bradford used in her address. We accept that. If a young person goes and performs the work to the same degree as an adult to the same time frame and with the same degree of effort and skill or whatever then he or she should get the same wage. We are quite receptive to that idea. 
We have the worry—as I indicated earlier—that youngsters will leave school and think they will be on the adult minimum wage and will sacrifice their career. Equally we have the worry that some parents will say: “Well now you can go out and in a relatively short period of time you can earn the adult minimum wage.” and encourage their offspring to go into the workforce ahead of when they really should. Kids—youngsters—need an opportunity and many of them will get a greater opportunity from staying at school. We do not want to see this bill as an incentive for walking away from education. 
At least a couple of people whom I can recall coming to the select committee made a real impression on me. One was a young woman who worked in a hotel; the other was a young woman who worked in a cinema. They told us at length how long they had been in their jobs and what they did. Not only did they do the job that was in hand—and I am sure Mark Gosche will agree with this—they told us how they also took on new staff who were older than they were and who got paid more. These young people—and I have no doubt at all that they are very capable young people because of the way they presented themselves and how they put their case across—indicated that not only did they do their job but they also supervised people coming into those workplaces. 
Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: Where’s this all going Peter? 
PETER BROWN 
: The member thinks that young people should be discounted and disregarded. 
Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: No; where is this story going? 
PETER BROWN 
: I am simply telling—if the member will listen— 
Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: I’ve been listening for about 14 minutes but it seems like an hour. 
PETER BROWN 
: Why does the member not take the advice of a very well-known former National Prime Minister and close his mouth and breathe through his nose for just a few moments and I will tell the member that these young people— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: I think it is getting a bit raucous. Nobody can hear the member. Will members just desist thank you. 
PETER BROWN 
: I could not even hear myself Madam Speaker. I just want to advocate for these young people who came before the select committee. They were in supervisory roles and training roles and they were getting paid 80 percent of the minimum wage. Frankly if those employers are concerned about this then they are their own worst enemy. 
There is an article here from the  
Dominion Post 
—[ 
Interruption 
]—and maybe the National member the man with the hollow mouth or the hollow head should take note of it. The article states that the rise in the minimum wage is long overdue. I suggest to National members as they are sitting there all looking dejected upset and totally appalled that we will give a wage rise to young people that they read this article. They should take it home at night and read it. It is good bedtime reading for National members. It will tell them exactly why young people deserve a fairer go in this society. 
New Zealand First is very pleased to support this bill. We think the Minister’s compromise solution is the way to go and we congratulate Sue Bradford on being the proposer of the bill. I just say to National members before I finally sit down that if young people behaved the way that those members do then they would not be paid anything.