Pillay Lynne: General Debates 
Pillay Lynne: General Debates 
[Volume:608;Page:5195] 
LYNNE PILLAY (NZ Labour—Waitakere) 
: 
 Yesterday was International Workers’ Memorial Day which is a day when we remember those who have died at work both in New Zealand and overseas. I attended a remembrance service in my electorate along with workers employers my colleagues and Waitakere city councillors. It was a sad day for New Zealand for employers for workers and for their families. 
Next week this Government will introduce improved health and safety legislation. The Opposition vehemently opposes it but it is being introduced none the less. It is legislation that recognises the rights of workers and their representatives to ensure their safety at work. It will see the Accident Compensation Corporation and the unions working together in partnership. Under this legislation unions have committed to train 10000 health and safety representatives—10000 workers working with employers to ensure that our workplaces are safe. 
Things are getting better for workers and there are more of us. Unemployment is at its lowest level since 1989. There will be 6000 young people in apprenticeships across 25 industries through this term of Government. They are developing the skills we need for the jobs that we need. We are now also better paid. The minimum wage has increased from $7 to $8.50 per hour and that did not wreck the economy. We now have paid parental leave and it is working very well. 
What else is on the agenda? The Employment Relations Act has been a success. We are working on protecting jobs when businesses are sold or when work is contracted out. We are looking at pay equity and equal employment opportunities. We are improving the Holidays Act to make it more family-friendly—to enable a work-life balance. We are introducing improvements to our smokefree laws to protect workers. We are supporting our employers through industry development incentives and through skills development. Is that good? Yes it is and of course it is all rubbished by the Opposition. We have heard the same sad old “hands-off trickle-down wage increases wreck jobs unions wreck workplaces” diatribe from the same sad old party. Is National proposing a journey into yesteryear? It is more like a journey into yester-century. 
But now National is refocusing. After our third MMP election National has got it: it is important to have a party vote strategy. National needs some bright new blood bright new ideas and new direction. Who is in the wings? Don Brash. Wow! As one MP put it people keep telling us they do not know what National stands for and I say that neither does National. To attempt to find a vision and to struggle within so much disunity is very sad. 
I am relatively new to politics but it is good to be in a party with a vision in a party with my mates and in a party that is getting it right. And we are getting it right—a 52 percent poll rating says we are getting it right and only twenty-something percent says the Opposition is getting it right. But how will National fix it? Can it fix it? No it cannot. The Opposition cannot change this Government because this Government “ain’t broken”.