Source: New Zealand Parliament – Hansard
Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour): Thank you, Mr Speaker. The New Zealand Labour Party supports the right of all private and public sector workers, including Defence Force civilian staff, to seek meaningful and reasonable pay increases. Civilian staff work in important roles, as the Minister of Defence has said, across our Defence Force, including for firefighting, and security services for military bases and the likes of Defence House and Pipitea House.
Invoking section 9(2) of the Defence Act is unusual and should only occur in exceptional circumstances. In the opinion of the New Zealand Labour Party, the circumstances we are facing here today are of the Government’s making. They chose to underfund parts of the Defence budget, which resulted in the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) offering nothing of substance to civilian workers. It will not surprise many New Zealanders that faced with an offer of zero increase, they chose to instead issue a strike notice. Rather than addressing the root cause of this strike by enabling the New Zealand Defence Force to make a realistic offer to civilian staff, the Minister has instead escalated this dispute by invoking section 9(2) of the Defence Act.
This must be worsening the capacity problem within the NZDF. The NZDF are down at least 1,200 staff and, of course, are dealing with the sinking of the HMNZS Manawanui. Labour encourages the Government to financially support the NZDF to enable them to go back to the bargaining table with a real offer in order to avoid the long-term deployment of Defence Force members to tasks that are not part of their core roles.
I have a number of brief questions for the Minister, the first of which is: is it correct that the wage offer made prior to the strike notice was zero, and, if so, is the Minister able to inform the House of any prior instance of section 9(2) of the Defence Act having been utilised after a zero offer was made, leading to strike action?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Defence): Mr Speaker, thank you. I note the comments made by the Hon David Parker. The Defence Force was massively underfunded and massively under stress when we became the Government. We were able to secure, despite the very difficult fiscal circumstances, well over $450 million extra of operating costs in the Budget just passed. I am appalled that the former Minister does not understand about what a shocking state we were left with.
What I can say is that the Defence Force has been able to cut the massive attrition rates it has had. It is clear that this is an industrial dispute. The Defence Force is taking full responsibility to be able to deal with this situation. I will never leave Defence to be defenceless, like that previous Government did.
Hon KIERAN McANULTY (Labour): Point of order, Mr Speaker. The structures surrounding ministerial statements are quite clear, and Speaker’s ruling 150/1 clearly states that a Minister’s responsibility when asked a question is to address that question. It is not an opportunity to make another speech or to make a political comment.
SPEAKER: That is true, but that was a very politically motivated question, with all due respect, and I think it would be hard to say that the question was not addressed, given that it was funding that was mentioned straight up in the start of the question.
Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour): I ask again whether the Minister can inform the House as to whether there is any prior instance where this section has been used in the light of a strike notice after a zero percent wage offer.
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Defence): Well, I’m not responsible for what that previous Government might have done with its resources or what was done under previous Ministers. What I can say is that I’ve been the Minister for a year and I have not had to use this power before, but I am certainly doing it now.
Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour): Has the Minister been advised by the Chief of Defence or the State Services Commission when the last wage increase was received by these workers and what the effect of inflation since has been in terms of their real wages?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Defence): No, I have not been informed of that, but I can say that I’m happy to say that after some excellent work done by the Minister of Finance, the inflation rate is dropping.
Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour): Are any of the roles that the New Zealand Defence Force will be filling vacancies or the consequence of voluntary redundancies, or are they all as a consequence of the strike notice?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Defence): Well, I don’t have the full details of who is on strike, but I can say that it’s hard for people to be on strike if they’ve already made themselves redundant. So I’d expect that they will all be people who are currently employed by Defence Force doing valuable work, but it is work that needs to be done. Whether it’s by people who are civilians or it’s people in uniform, it will be done.
Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour): Supplementary—it’s probably not a supplementary, is it, sir. But another question to the Minister, if I may, sir, is: has the Minister sought any advice from the State Services Commission as to whether the negotiations with the civilian workforce are proceeding in a manner that the State Services Commission would have thought is normal?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Defence): No. It’s now the Public Service Commission and, no, this is an operational matter. I have full confidence in the Chief of the Defence Force and his leadership team. I expect them to get on with their job.
Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour): Is the Minister confident that she has followed all of the relevant provisions in the Employment Relations Act on when and how employers can replace striking workers when she invokes section 9(2) of the Defence Act?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Defence): Yes, I’m fully aware that we have followed the law. In fact, I’ve had advice on that and, as one would expect, I have read my advice and taken it on board.
Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour): Is she surprised that the workers issued a strike notice after a zero percent wage increase?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Defence): It’s not for me to be surprised or not. It’s simply a fact, and my job is to make sure that Defence is not left defenceless.
