Remuneration Authority Amendment Bill

I move, That the Remuneration Authority Amendment Bill be now read a third time. I conclude very, very quickly by thanking the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee—its chair, David Bennett, and its members—for the prompt and efficient passage of this bill through the committee. I also thank the House for unanimously endorsing it, at least to this level.

As we have explained, this bill will enable the Remuneration Authority to take into account adverse economic conditions and will allow it, as a result, to set remuneration at a rate lower than it would have otherwise determined. The bill aligns the Remuneration Authority’s reporting requirements and makes some minor and technical amendments. I commend this bill to the House.

I see that the only omission members made tonight in the Committee stage was not inserting a Supplementary Order Paper to ensure that temporary Speakers and temporary Chairs of Committee could be recompensed for the very hard work they have been required to do this evening. I think that is an oversight on behalf of the Government and the Opposition in that particular respect.

I join with the Minister of Labour, the Hon Kate Wilkinson, in thanking the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee for its work. The truth is that these are never easy issues to deal with. Parliament is required to make a decision on these things, and the truth is we are on a hiding to nothing whenever we try to move in this area. But the intention of members in this particular case has been to do the right thing. The motion that the House moved earlier this year was taken up by the Remuneration Authority, and we are now passing a law to ensure that the conditions of the country in terms of the economy will be one of the factors considered by the authority in determining the remuneration of a small group of New Zealanders who are paid a lot more than the ordinary person.

I think that the privilege we have in serving in this House and being servants of the public means that we have to be mindful that many of the people who send us here to advance their views and values, regardless of how they may vote, are paid a lot less than we are and work equally as hard. Those values will now be reflected in the Remuneration Authority Act, and that can only be a good thing. The non-partisan nature of the passage of this bill shows how serious parliamentarians are about serving all of the communities that we represent. The Opposition commends the bill for its third reading.

Bill read a third time.