Young Jonathan: Remuneration Authority (Members of Parliament Remuneration) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeYoung Jonathan: Remuneration Authority (Members of Parliament Remuneration) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading[Sitting date: 17 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2277. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth): Before I address this bill I would just like to make a comment that I do hope the Green Party is not getting too encouraged by the colour of my tie today but I would like to acknowledge today is St Patrick’s Day and I wear this in acknowledgment of my wife’s forebears who come from Ireland. I know this has been a very controversial issue over the years—MPs’ remuneration—but how interesting it is today to be standing in the House to debate the decrease of that. Most people would be debating for the increase of their remuneration. Indeed I believe that we are responding to what the Prime Minister has probably properly assessed to be not just public sentiment but just exactly where things ought to be regarding this issue and this debate.As the previous speaker Annette King has said his history of comment around this particular area has been that restraint is very important. One of the criteria that the Remuneration Authority looks at when it makes decisions and recommendations around this is the area of prevailing adverse economic conditions. We celebrate that New Zealand is doing better but it was not long ago that we remember that this country was needing to borrow $300 million a week in order to maintain the services and soften those hard edges of recession for New Zealanders. We are coming out of that dire period of time and this country is starting to do well but we still need restraint and it is unfair—and we would even use that term “unethical”—for us to say to the people of New Zealand to exercise restraint while MPs’ salaries appear to be increasing unrestrained. It is important for us here in this House not only to lead debates but to live debates—to be examples of that which we hope other people will follow. I know that is a conceptthat I think many people would perhaps wonder at but that is the aspiration and the ideal that we would ought to have in this House. So it is important for us to address this matter.One of the other areas that the authority looks at is this issue of fair relativity with comparable positions and no doubt there are discussions decisions and determinations made about what those comparable positions may be. But what this Government and no doubt those who support this bill have determined is to say that the increases should be comparable to that of the public sector. I support that because indeed we are members of the public sector. We do stand in this place to serve the public. We are public servants. Although there are many aspects of our work that may go beyond that which the public sector may do at large there are many demands and many pressures. In terms of the positions that people have they can be very short and often it is very difficult for MPs when they leave this House to find their way back into the workforce. There are all of these factors.The fact is also that the work that we do is often demanding upon our families and upon our time and I have not yet come across an MP who works 40 hours a week. They all tend to work more. They all tend to put in huge effort and I have not come across an MP who does this job for the money. They do it because they believe in New Zealand. They want to improve New Zealand. They do it because they want to make a difference and I know many MPs who work 70-plus and 80-plus hours a week in service of their communities. So to bring down the salary to an hourly rate is not what this is about. Actually what this is about is being in step with the public sector and being in step with New Zealanders in terms of remuneration. I think that around this country New Zealanders by and large will say that we are landing in the right space regarding this bill. I look forward to making comment further on in the process of this bill and I am very pleased to stand in support of it. Thank you.