Kedgley Sue: Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Kedgley Sue: Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
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SUE KEDGLEY (Green) 
: 
 I would like to speak to clause 3 of the Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill which is really asking whether this Parliament will amend the Employment Relations Act so that Warner Bros will be happy. I mention in passing and to put some context here that there is a great exhibition at Te Papa at the moment about the 20th century. There are some fantastic clips of Prime Ministers of New Zealand like David Lange and Norman Kirk standing up in the world proclaiming our independence against America standing up for democracy and standing against injustice. I even wrote down what Norman Kirk said. He said we must be prepared to make our voice heard. He said: “We are a small nation but we will not abjectly surrender to injustice.” 
But now in the 21st century we are rewriting the script. Now we will abjectly surrender to any multinational corporation. We will amend the Employment Relations Act or any other Act to make a multinational corporation happy. We have now entered a new era of grovelling—grovelling our way in the world. It is a shame that the chief groveller is not here to defend his actions. Many people are asking where it will all end. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I apologise to the member for interrupting and I apologise to my colleagues that I have to do the Government’s job. But referring to the Prime Minister as a chief groveller is out of order. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: Certainly the member is correct that an allegation of someone being a groveller was made but I am not sure that it was specifically levelled at the Prime Minister. I guess it is probably appropriate for a timely warning. This debate has been robust but once get into name-calling it escalates to a situation where the chair has to intervene. 
SUE KEDGLEY 
: People are asking where it will all end. What will happen if next month McDonald’s comes to the Prime Minister and the Government and says it will shut all its fast-food restaurants in New Zealand unless the Employment Relations Act is changed to require that all McDonalds workers are contract workers who will not be entitled to penal rates or holiday rates? Why would it not do that on the basis of what is happening here today? What about Woolworths another multinational corporation which owns the second-largest supermarket chain in New Zealand? What if Woolworths comes to the Prime Minister and says that unless the Employment Relations Act is changed it will pull out of New Zealand? What if it threatens to shut down all its supermarkets unless the Employment Relations Act is amended? 
I am not sure how many MPs in the House have read the excellent book by David Korten called  
When Corporations Rule the World 
. It is described as a modern classic and it basically asks whether Governments are becoming obsolete and whether corporations are now in charge. Some have said it is becoming increasingly prophetic each passing day. It is certainly prophetic right here in New Zealand. There is living proof now that corporations—even if they do not rule the world—certainly rule in New Zealand. If any corporation wishes to or threatens to take away its toys and demands that we change the Employment Relations Act we will willingly make that change. 
What is so unique about what is happening today I think is that it is so blatant and so overt. All of us who have been around in Parliament for a while know that multinational corporations exercise huge influence over this House. Speaking of the Employment Relations Act I recall that I had an amendment to the Employment Relations Act—my bill about flexible working hours. The corporations came in here and they threatened that if that bill was passed they would take their workforce overseas and shut down their factories. They said that amending the Employment Relations Act would be disastrous. 
Normally all the influence of multinational corporations happens behind closed doors. It happens covertly through lobbyists. But this move was so overt there was no need for lobbyists. All that was needed was to send over a whole lot of executives from Warner Bros and we slavishly capitulated and changed the Employment Relations Act. 
The other thing that is extraordinary is that usually when a multinational corporation gets to change the Employment Relations Act—