Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) - New Zealand Parliament

3692 Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill 16 May 2009
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): Not me.
CAROL BEAUMONT: Sorry, of course you would not be doing this. The members
opposite need to be very, very confident that they are not making workers lose their
entitlements. To go back to the matter at hand, this issue is important because—and I
say this for the benefit of those who do not know—to get paid parental leave a worker
has to have had 6 months’ continuous service with an employer. I will give a little
example—a very current example—which involves the National Party and a staff
member working for the Labour Party who came across from Ministerial Services. Her
employment contract ended and she had to take a new contract with the Parliamentary
Service. She was pregnant at the time of the election, which meant she missed out on
getting paid parental leave by 1 month. We tried to deal with that matter with National,
and I say for the record—and this perhaps goes back to the conspiracy side of the
equation—that National was completely uninterested in trying to resolve that problem
for that particular worker. Perhaps some of the women over on the other side of the
Chamber should think about what that means. Paid parental leave is a very important
employment right in the current economic environment where things are very tough for
people.
AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn): I move, That the question be now put.
SU’A WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Māngere): I appreciate having the opportunity to
continue the debate. At every step of this debate, while the Opposition members have
demanded their say on bits and pieces of the Local Government (Auckland
Reorganisation) Bill, the Government, on the other hand, has moved closure motions to
put an end to the debate. I say to the Government that Labour is determined to have its
say and is determined to recognise that Aucklanders’ views are important. For that
reason, I rise to speak on proposed new Part 12 about the paid parental leave
entitlement—to ensure that the voices of our women throughout Auckland, and
especially those in Manukau City, are recognised and heard. The proposed amendment
has two purposes: to give confidence to the women in Manukau City and the other
seven local and territorial authorities throughout Auckland that their paid parental leave
will be protected, and to provide protection and confidence to the close to 7,000
workers who are effected by the restructuring and reorganisation of Auckland councils.
When I look across to the other side of the Chamber, I see the member Dr Jackie
Blue. I notice that she has been angry and frustrated throughout this debate. No doubt,
as a member from the Auckland region, she is reflecting the anger and frustration that
the people of Auckland are feeling about this particular debate. She is sitting on her
own, away from the rest of her colleagues. She is the member who should have been the
Minister of Health. Her anger and frustration are a reflection of the way that people
throughout the Auckland region are feeling; they are angry and frustrated that this
Government is not prepared to allow public consultation on the bill by sending it to a
select committee. That is all that the Government has to do. I invite Dr Jackie Blue to
take a call. She should not worry about what the whips are telling her to do; she should
take a call on this amendment and stand up for women in the Auckland region. Close to
7,000 workers will be affected by the reorganised structure. It would not be so bad if
just young, single people were involved, but probably 50 to 60 percent of the workforce
is women—married, middle-aged women with children—and if they have mortgages,
they have a real sense of fear about what will happen.
It is also important that the Committee votes in support of the proposed new Part 12
because earlier the Government voted down a motion moved by Charles Chauvel—one
of my colleagues—that the Government put in place a code of practice that honours and
delivers the principle of protecting the workers affected. I have a concern about the
workers for the various council-controlled organisations such as Manukau Water. I have