parliament

Te Ururoa Flavell: speech
Thursday, 17 May 2007, 10:44 am
Speech: The Maori Party
Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Easter Trading) Amendment Bill: (Stevie Chadwick);

Wednesday 16 May 2007

Te Ururoa Flavell, Member for Waiariki

Yesterday I met a woman describing herself as a wife, mother and grandmother from Whangarei. She is also a worker on the shop floor at a local warehouse. We were pleased to have a discussion with her.

She told me how this Easter, she refused to work the Sunday, and instead enjoyed time with her whanau.

Her decision was made for cultural and spiritual reasons. But upon returning to work, she was aware that her colleagues had other reasons which prevented them from being able to make the same decision that she had. She listed these as, and I quote:
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• Pressure by employers to work as a so-called ‘team’;
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• The effect of upcoming appraisals where it appears that taking Easter Sunday off could well result in the boss claiming they were unreliable;
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• Because of the low wages, workers felt compelled to work to earn time and a half.
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Madam Speaker, her letter ended with a plea, “we look to all our Government leaders to protect retail workers from the kind of abusive power that can happen in corporate-owned companies”.

So I come to The Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Easter Trading) Amendment Bill thinking of that wahine. And it raises some questions for us.

How well do the provisions in this Bill express the hopes and dreams of workers for a better future?

Do they take into account the views of workers on the shop-floor – the belief that an injury to one is an injury to all?

What will be the impact on workers? Indeed what is the nature of the actual demand for shops to be open on Easter Sunday?

I have heard the advocates of Easter Trading say there is a demand for shops to open. Well I need to tell you that I was at Te Hui Ahurei a Tuhoe at Easter and not one of the thousands of people there; workers and employers alike; made any suggestions that they would rather be working - so who is making the demand?

As the House already is aware, the Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal Act 1990 first amended shop trading hours. This was followed by the Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal Amendment Act 2001, which allowed garden centres to open on Easter Sunday. And that was followed by a list of certain categories of shops that could trade on restricted days.

These changes have made New Zealand one of the most liberalised shopping nations in the world - second only to Iceland!

The fact that a precedent has been set, however, shouldn’t force anyone’s hand to determine how they vote on this Bill.

Special and Protected Days

You see Madam Speaker, this Bill, and Jacqui Dean’s before it, suggest some significant challenges to the public policy preference to retain certain special and protected days.

We believe that in areas of debate which bring with them such major alterations to public policy, then the process must as of right, involve public consultation, local Council decision-making and Ministerial oversight.

We were pleased to see in this current Bill, that much of the decision-making would reside in the context of the territorial local authority area. Indeed it would be up to Councils to determine.

However, and it’s a big ‘However’, allowing local communities to have their say through their Councils could have the potential to extend trading way beyond the concept of limited exemptions.

Exemptions should be for limited localities

The Maori Party supported the idea of territorial local authorities determining how the Act applies in their own unique situation.

But we believe that it would be preferable for exemptions to be granted to limited localities within districts rather than to the whole TLA. In Rotorua for example, that may be the crafts-market; in Auckland it could be the Viaduct or Victoria Park Market; in Porirua, it could be the North City Plaza.

And here we come to one of the most critical areas in the Stevie Chadwick Bill, related to this provision for local authorities to consult with their communities on the issue of Easter Sunday shop trading and then to make a decision appropriate for the area.

Madam Speaker, the Bill enables councils to enact special consultative procedures to find out whether locals want their shops trading on the day. The sponsor of the Bill, local member Stevie Chadwick, had suggested that the consultative procedures outlined in Part 6 of the Local Government Act 2002 would be used.

Yet, the select committee in a sort of a strange turn of events, decided instead to recommend that section 83 of the Local Government Act be used. This change cuts out section 81 of Part six – which just happens to be the particular provision for councils to consult with Maori communities.

We have to ask what’s this all about if the opportunity to consult with Maori is specifically prohibited by the Select Committee.

Exemptions should be for Genuine Exceptions

Madam Speaker, the National Distribution Union has spoken with us about the possibility of exemptions being granted according to criteria in order to limit trading to genuine cases.

A genuine case would be defined as a significant event being held in the area; a sudden population boom being experienced which is due to the location being an Easter weekend destination. We think Whanganui this Easter gone with the Hui Aranga; think Ruatoki with Te Hui Ahurei a Tuhoe; I think Wanaka with the biennial air show; and think Rotorua every Easter.

Stevie and I well know that Rotorua is the place to be, but even more so at Easter when our environment becomes alive and passionate and in the passion and swing of Latin America.

Every Easter, Rotorua gets into the groove – that’s the samba groove and salsa curves of the Jambalaya – the biggest Latin and Pasifika dance and music festival in Aotearoa. Forget about the‘dancing with the stars’ - for three days and four nights, Rotorua transforms into a massive dance party.

Easter hui; Jambalaya; airshows; no matter how spectacular - are all significant deviations to the norm - the type of exemption we could envisage as being associated with a major festival.

Madam Speaker, as Member for Waiariki I would have supported a Bill which responded to the unique needs of unique places – such as Rotorua; or other areas which have a genuine case.

I would have supported a case for genuine retailers to apply for an exemption to attract the tourist dollar, rather than just another commercial shopping day. A specific purpose for a specific area.

However there was always a concern with this Bill in that the scope went so wide as to include everyone.

And worse yet, the Select Committee removed Section 81 – which mandated the requirement to consult with Maori.

If the Member for Rotorua, Stevie, had put up a Bill which was specific to Rotorua, and had those exemptions in place, I would have happily looked to supporting such a proposal.

The Cost of Work

Madam Speaker, I want to just return to the central issue at stake in this Bill – the cost of a decent day’s work. And decent is an interesting concept to ponder further.

Our research says that a comparison of the proportion of employees working fifty or more hours per week among a selection of OECD countries shows that New Zealand has one of the highest proportions of workers putting in long hours of paid work.

Easter Sunday and Good Friday already have significance to Christians as occasions of special meaning. But in the context of concerns about long hours of paid work, we are also concerned about the possible negative effects for families and children of taking out an extra day from an already pressured family calendar. As any of the parents of teenagers in the House could verify, that life is so busy for many of them that one almost needs to text in appointments for ‘family time’ to their busy schedules as it is – let alone, deleting another two days.

In other research, results from the UNICEF/Innocenti International report at the start of this year, threw up a whole lot of hard questions about how much time New Zealand families have to enjoy being together.

Unfortunately, we are lagging behind many other economically poorer countries in variables such as parents spending time with their children; sharing a meal together; giving due attention to their children.

So Madam Speaker, the Maori Party believes we have to start talking seriously about the way in which New Zealanders balance the ever-competing pressures of paid work with the immeasurable value of quality family time.

Workers and families have frequently reinforced that the need to earn enough income, the pressure of workplace practices have made it hard, in fact almost impossible to have a balanced life.

So Madam Speaker, as we all examine our conscience in the process of determining our position, we must not let the importance of whanaungatanga be undermined.

The principle of whanaungatanga recognises that the people are our true wealth; that an investment in whanau will provide a compelling foundation for future growth.

We need to consider the benefits to employersand employees; to ensure that there are protections for workers; and to always hold firm to those who will be with us at the start of the working day, at the end of a working life, and in all the hours in between.

And it is in light of that principle that we must vote against the Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Easter Trading) Amendment Bill.

ENDS

Shop workers are urging Members of Parliament to exercise their conscience votes in favour of family and community life and not commerce when they vote on a Bill aimed at opening shops on Easter Sunday tonight. The National Distribution Union, which represents shop workers, says thousands of people have already signed a petition being circulated by churches, unions and Members of Parliament opposed to Rotorua MP Steve Chadwick’s Bill. The bill, which hands power to councils to decide whether shops in the area should trade on Easter Sunday is also attracting council opposition.

Defeat of Easter Shop Trading Bill a victory for shop workers and their families

The union for retail workers is thrilled by tonight's defeat of a bill set to liberalise shop trading on Easter Sunday.

Laila Harré, National Secretary of the National Distribution Union (NDU), says the defeat is a victory for all those who saw the threat it posed to Easter activities.

"Tonight's vote was a recognition by Parliament of the challenge faced by low paid workers who organise their lives to suit the demands of employers in the 24/7 retail trading environment."

The National Distribution Union says that the 84 to 37 defeat of Jacqui Dean's Bill which would have opened shops on Good Friday and Easter Sunday is a positive sign. "Parliament has rejected the immediate liberalisation of shop trading at Easter. It now needs to reject the slow burning Chadwick Bill which would hand the power to local councils to open shops in any area on Easter Sunday," says Laila Harré, NDU National Secretary.

Ground swell petition opposes Easter shop trading

United Future MP Gordon Copeland, an opponent of shop trading on Good Friday or Easter Sunday, today revealed that there is ground swell of support for a petition opposing the two bills currently before Parliament.

"The petition was commenced by George Dunning of Nelson who forwarded the 835 signatures he had collected to me, as the sponsoring Member of Parliament, in late March.

"It was originally proposed that the petition would be presented to Parliament on the 1st of May to coincide both with the International Workers Day and also, in the Catholic Church, the feast day of Saint Joseph the Worker.

"However, the two Easter Trading bills (one in the name of Jacqui Dean, the other in the name of Steve Chadwick) have been delayed because Sue Bradford's Anti-Smacking Bill has utilised all of the available time on the last two Members days and that looks set to continue during May.

"Accordingly a vote on the 2nd reading of the Easter Sunday Trading Bills could now be as late as the 13th of June with the Committee stage to follow (assuming the bills survive their 2nd readings).

"Given those realities, a loose "alliance" involving unions and churches has been brought together to advance the petition.

"Laila Harre and Maxine Gay of the National Distribution Union will be taking the lead on the union side and I have passed the word on to Catholic and Anglican bishops and to the Chief Executive of Vision Network New Zealand, on the churches' side.

"What began as one man's stand is therefore now moving in the direction of a more general ground swell of opposition to the bills.

"It is a pity in a way that the timing has coincided with Sue Bradford's Bill which has tended, for the moment, to overshadow the very deep concerns of many New Zealanders at the prospect of New Zealand's shop-free days, shrinking from an already skinny 3.5 per year to just 1.5."

Mr Copeland said that this not just about the right of shop owners to open their shops on these important traditional holidays.

"It is also about work/life balance, time with family and friends, and the opportunity for the more than 300,000 people who work in the retail sector to get off their feet and enjoy the holidays, along with the rest of us."

ENDS

John Key has a history of using luck and hard work to thrust his way to the top, a recipe he has used again to take over as National Party leader.

Throughout his life Mr Key has grabbed opportunities left open to him through vacancies or weak competition as well as being rewarded for his intelligence and achievements.  If his life remains on the course it has taken so far he could well be the next prime minister.

Today's opportunity arose after Don Brash resigned as leader on Thursday, before Nicky Hager's damning book was released on Friday.  Now at 45, Mr Key is one of the party's youngest leaders, although new deputy Bill English did hold the leadership before he was 40.

Mr Key's rags-to-riches story has been often told. He was raised by his Austrian-Jewish immigrant mother after his father died, leaving the family in debt.  A childhood in a Christchurch state house was a humble start but did not hold him back at Burnside High School then Canterbury University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce in 1982.  He subsequently studied management at Boston's prestigious Harvard University, in the United States.

His first job was project manager at Christchurch-based clothing manufacturer Lane Walker Rudkin for two years.

He then headed to Wellington to work for Elders Merchant Finance as a foreign exchange dealer, quickly rising to be head trader.  Head-hunted by Bankers Trust in Auckland, he stayed there for seven years before taking on head of foreign exchange for Merrill Lynch in London.  He also worked for Merrill Lynch in Singapore and Sydney and was a member of the Foreign Exchange Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

After a successful career he returned to New Zealand a very wealthy man, with politics on his mind.  He settled into an $8 million mansion in Auckland with his wife Bronagh and their children Stephie and Max.  Mr Key had the midas touch in business and so far the same has happened in his political career.

Saunders and Unsworth's guide to the 2005 Parliament said Mr Key told his wife on their first date he wanted to be a National Party MP. He sent his Labourite mum a National rosette for a birthday present.

His rise through the ranks after winning the Helensville seat for National in 2002 was meteoric. By 2003 he was deputy finance spokesman. A year later he was finance spokesman.  He has raced up the ranks as well, from No 10 in 2002, to No 7 at the 2005 election.  He was promoted to No 4 by Dr Brash, in recognition of his skill at selling the party's tax package during the campaign.  Mr Key also kept the Helensville seat - with a 12,778 majority. 

In recent polls he scored well - a New Zealand Herald poll of 750 Aucklanders showed Mr Key on 17.3 per cent support as preferred prime minister, just behind Dr Brash's 18.8 per cent.  Now he is leader - one, as former cabinet minister Richard Prebble once put it, straight out of central casting.

But pundits are already questioning whether he has the political depth to perform.  Such questions will make National a little nervous, especially in the wake of the Nicky Hager book that showed Dr Brash's inexperience hurt the party.  Lack of political nous tripped up Dr Brash, a man who was accomplished and confident in his former role as Reserve Bank Governor.  In previous roles Mr Key has pulled it off and his friendly, upfront manner has won him inroads with those who matter.

Hager's book revealed Mr Key annoyed both Mr English - his new deputy - and Dr Brash's deputy Gerry Brownlee.  He upset Mr English by promising to support him against Dr Brash but then voting the other way.  He riled Mr Brownlee by making his leadership desires public at a bad time for the party.  He now appeared to have managed to get back into the good books with both.

In the House he has performed well taking on political veteran Michael Cullen, sometimes winning, and seldom struggling amid the bruising argy bargy.  He speaks well and despite his wealth is down to earth and approachable.

Jewish, he goes to church but is "relaxed" about religion. He voted against civil union legislation in 2004 and voted for raising the age at which young people could buy alcohol.

He has a reputation for pragmatism and though some - such as Hager - say his more centrist approach is a front.  He fronted National's change of position on dumping the superannuation fund and on keeping Kiwibank.

Whatever job he has held he has turned into a success.  Now time will tell if he can make his mark on National.