Parental Leave and Employment ProtectionAmendment Bill

New Zealand First is determined to make some amendments to this bill. My colleague Bill Gudgeon has a Supplementary Order Paper, which provides for self-employed women to receive paid parental leave. We say that it is totally unfair that this bill should apply only to employed people. I notice that United Future was sympathetic to that amendment, and I know that the Greens are sympathetic, but they say that it would take too long and could not be done in the time frame of this bill.

I asked Jeanette Fitzsimons afterwards, and she was quite genuine about it and said we need a definition of a self-employed person. Well, New Zealand First has fixed it! We have a definition. It took us all of 5 minutes, but we have got it. In the Committee stage we will put forward a Supplementary Order Paper, in my name, which defines a self-employed person. I take this opportunity to read it out: “For the purposes of this Act a self-employed person is a person whose work routine and time frame are usually not controlled and who may hire others to do the work. They are seldom paid at a set rate, e.g. hourly, weekly or by units of production, and do not work set hours or a given number of hours each week or month. Those contracting them do not pay them sick pay, holiday pay, overtime or penal rates.” New Zealand First thinks that is a good definition. We know that it is acceptable, because the Inland Revenue Department operates to that definition of a self-employed person. As that department will pay out for this provision, we think it is only common sense that the same definition should apply to those who collect the money and to those who pay it out.

So I look forward to total support from the Greens, because this amendment is in response to Jeanette Fitzsimons’ comment, and to total support from United Future. United Future says it is a family-based party, and it has made a lot of noise about self-employed workers, so I am very confident of its support. I am sure the National Party will support such an amendment. I am very, very confident that when this bill has gone through the Committee stage it will come out providing for paid parental leave for self-employed people, and this Parliament will have achieved something that the Government members only dreamt about. New Zealand First will have fixed it.