Collins Judith: Holidays (Four Weeks Annual Leave) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Collins Judith: Holidays (Four Weeks Annual Leave) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:606;Page:4027] 
JUDITH COLLINS (NZ National—Clevedon) 
: 
 I rise to oppose this bill. I certainly understand what Mr Robson is trying to do here. Unfortunately I do not have a lot of sympathy with anyone who wishes to be generous and to take the claim for being generous with other people’s money. That is what this Holidays (Four Weeks Annual Leave) Amendment Bill is all about. 
It may as well be the “Holidays (6.2 Weeks Annual Leave) Amendment Bill” because that is what it is talking about. If we add on the 11 public holidays that employers already have to pay for if we put that into the equation the total is 6.2 working-weeks. That is actually an awful lot of time. 
Sue Bradford has commented that the bill is not necessarily going to break some employers and she has also said that some already provide 4 weeks’ annual leave. Well is that not the point? There is nothing to stop any employer and employee from negotiating to have a 4 weeks’ annual leave provision in an employment contract. That already happens now. But that is a matter of choice and often the trade-off is for those employees not to work as many hours during the day or to have more flexibility in the sort of work they do. Certainly this bill would remove the option for employers to say: “I tell you what: I can’t pay for you to have the 4 weeks’ annual leave that you want but I will allow your school-age child to come along to the place of employment after school and do homework here so that you’re not having to rush home or to worry that the child is at home alone.” There is that sort of provision and it is not silly. It is the sort of thing that happens all the time between good employers and good employees. 
I point out that 85 percent of business in this country is small business. I was surprised at and disappointed in the contribution made by New Zealand First. I always knew it was against big business but I expected it to be for small business. So it was very disappointing. This bill is in fact removing the option for the small-business employer and employee to sit down and negotiate something that works for them. It is taking that away. It is imposing another cost. It is just another one of the costs that this Government along with the Progressive—I cannot recall what those members call themselves now; I am sorry but I cannot remember their name; it is the PC party—impose in whatever they do. They are happy to impose yet another tax and burden on employers and by doing that on employees. It means that any employer with say two staff will have to say: “I’m going to have to get someone else to cover for those extra days. or: “I have to be less generous and flexible in my employment relationship with the other member of staff who now has to cover for you.” There are all those sorts of things. 
How many self-employed people in small business get anything like 4 weeks’ annual leave? The reality is it just does not happen. I see my colleague in United Future agreeing. One of the sad truths is that Christmas time which we are told is a hard time for a lot of working people is a very hard time for a lot of employers. The reason is that employers have to pay for all the statutory holidays around Christmas and often that is also the time for staff to take annual leave. Guess what? Nobody ever pays bills in January; nobody ever pays businesses in January. I see that my colleague who has been in business is nodding. There is no money coming in in January and the employers have paid out a lot of money in December so they have a very very lean couple of months. After that of course there are the tax bills due in February and March. Does anyone ever say to the employer: “Oh gosh poor old you. Let’s give you a break on that.”? No. That is the situation with this bill; it is just making the life of the employer harder. 
Why do that? Employers are not the enemy. They are in fact the people who— 
David Benson-Pope 
: Support the Government. 
JUDITH COLLINS 
: Oh for goodness’ sake Mr Benson-Pope! That member never stands up to take a call. Honestly what is wrong with him? Just take a call! 
Rodney Hide 
: He can’t speak. Helen Clark won’t let him. 
JUDITH COLLINS 
: He cannot speak. All he does is interject. Poor old Mr Benson-Pope. It is the only way the poor man can get into  
Hansard 
. 
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