McAnulty KieranHEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORK (VOLUNTEER ASSOCIATIONS) AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingDebate resumed from 6 March 2019.KIERAN McANULTY (Labour): This bill the Health and Safety at Work (Volunteer Associations) Amendment Bill calls to question a very important principle: should those who work as employees be protected in terms of health and safety through legislation? This side of the House says absolutely they should and it should be a universal right for everyone that works that they should be protected that there should be rules and regulations and legislation in place that ensures that to the best of the employer's ability those who work for a living are protected while they are at their job. And so let's look at the general policy statement here in this bill.Volunteer associations play an important part in New Zealand." We agree. "There are a range of volunteer associations which employ a limited number of employees usually for very specific tasks." Again we agree. Then we get to the bit that we struggle with: "This bill amends the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 to allow volunteer associations that employ a person or persons for not greater than 100 hours per week to be excluded from the definition of a person conducting a business or undertaking [otherwise known as] PCBU."The Labour Party opposes this bill because we believe that all workers in all organisations have a right to a safe and a healthy workplace. It's not too much to ask. Every worker that leaves their home to earn a living should be doing so in a safe environment. And just because they happen to work for a volunteer association should not exclude them from the right that the rest of us enjoy. The argument of course is that volunteer associations find it difficult to comply with health and safety standards. I understand that resources are limited for those that are voluntary organisations but for something as fundamental as the health and safety of their staff there is no way that this side of the House can agree that this—of all the potential provisions that an organisation that employs people would wish to be excluded from—above all should be one of them.There is little evidence that the bill will achieve its stated purpose of making it easier for voluntary associations to comply with the law. There is also very little that shows that it will make it easier for volunteer associations to attract staff. Now I've been involved in volunteer associations and I know how hard it is to attract staff. I know how hard it is to attract volunteers. But making the workplace that they are going to be part of—[Interruption]—is not going to make it easier.They make noises as they often do on the other side of the House. But when you look at the organisation that I was most recently involved in the New Zealand fire brigade an organisation that is fully reliant on volunteers it is in many ways potentially the most dangerous job that anyone could undertake particularly from a volunteer basis. Now an organisation like that if it tried to avoid its responsibility to the people that they employ or the volunteers that participate in that activity they would definitely have trouble attracting people into what is such a dangerous activity. Now I know people might say that these sorts of organisations are not necessarily that dangerous but in any working environment if the provision of health and safety is not seen as a priority that puts people's well-being and lives at risk.We as a Parliament have a responsibility to ensure that the people of this country are safe in any activity that they undertake. All of us work for a living. All of us should do it in a safe environment. And while this Government has made much progress in terms of ensuring the health and safety of our workers in this country New Zealand actually has to front up. Historically we have an appalling record of health and safety for our workers and excluding those that just happen to work for voluntary organisations is not the way to send the message that we prioritise them and we prioritise their well-being. This side of the House will be opposing this bill."