There is much to repair after nine years of National Government and six years of New Right Labour before that. From our perspective the country has gone backwards ecologically, socially and economically. Global advances in peace, notably the reduction in the nuclear threat, and democratically, particularly in South Africa, East Timor and Eastern Europe, have been overshadowed by the growing dominance of Trans-national corporations and the increasing subservience of governments to their globalisation agenda.
We are now working with the Labour-Alliance Government to turn the tide. The Green Party's relationship with the Government is a complex one. We strive to find the right balance between achieving our goals, which were endorsed by 106,000 voters, while not holding the government to ransom. We do our best to take a principled approach by improving legislation when we can but not by trading away policies and good process in another area.
In a number of crucial situations, such as ACC and Employment Relations, the Government depends totally on our vote to introduce legislation. That balance of power position has enabled us to broker improvements to legislation which would not have been achieved under conventional oppositional politics. We have also been in a position to negotiate directly with government to improve legislation and inquiry terms of reference before they even reach the public area. On occasions we will co-operate with opposition parties to defeat the minority government as we are trying to do with the MP gagging legislation, known as the Electoral Integrity Bill, which is currently before Parliament. Last but not least we will at times stand apart from all the grey parties. Earlier this year when we went down seven votes to 113 when we opposed setting up the Intelligence and Security committee which runs the Waihopai Spy Base.
At the end of the day the government knows it has our support but we hope it will continue to involve us in determining the direction our country takes. We are still sorting out our relationships with individual ministers but we hope that the protocol we have almost completed negotiating with Labour and the Alliance will put co-operation on a more formal and sustainable footing.
We were pleased to support restoration of the ACC as a collective scheme and look forward to the second ACC bill to restore the original Woodhouse principles of comprehensive entitlement, complete rehabilitation, and real compensation. At the same time we made it clear that we don't condone the many poor practices of the ACC in the past and want to ensure that there is good external accountability so that the ACC it doesn't fall back into its old ways. We also used our balance of power situation to ensure that self employed people got a fair go.
We are taking a similar approach to the Employment Relations Bill. In pledging our support for the bill Sue Bradford said on our behalf "I am honoured to stand here today remembering as I do all the workers, employed and unemployed, who have struggled over the past nine years to bring an end to the ECA regime and to the bitterness and betrayal for which it has come to stand".
The ECA has undoubtedly been a major tool of the New Right in their campaign to exploit the working people of New Zealand. Since its introduction the gap between rich and poor has widened significantly, structural unemployment grew to over 200,000 people, real wages have been stagnant, workers have lost their penal and overtime rates, and more and more jobs have been casualised.
The ERB is therefore a breath of fresh air with its focus on good faith bargaining and its emphasis on mediation rather than expensive and lengthy legal solutions. We genuinely believe its passage will hugely benefit both workers and employers. It won't lead to a return to some mythical dark age of union extremism as National and Act claim and good employers certainly have nothing to fear.
We would like the bill to go further in some areas. We are keen to explore how it can be extended to recognise the important role workers and unions can play in raising awareness and taking action on environmental and human rights issues. In my lifetime unions have taken action against American nuclear warships and apartheid in South Africa. Our Australian counterparts recently supported the people of East Timor in their struggle for independence by preventing airline passengers travelling to Indonesia on the government airline. Working people should have the right to challenge horrors such as nuclear weapons, apartheid and genocide. The ability to strike in support of a group of employees working for the same employer also needs to be incorporated in the bill.
There are also features of the bill which we are uncomfortable about and will be seeking union input before we take a final position. I am very concerned with the proposal to allow two people to set up a union. Will there be any test to ensure that they are democratic and independent of the employer? Will there be a minimum code of practice in place before they are registered? In the same way that consumers have a whole range of legal rights and professional bodies of lawyers and accountants have standards to protect their clients I believe the union movement should have the opportunity to ensure that new unions will act in the best interests of workers. We are keen to hear about other concerns you have with the bill.
Beyond employment relations legislation we are looking forward to the Government's proposed minimum code legislation to address youth rates, minimum wage rates, holiday and parental leave provisions.
These are important steps towards rebuilding the social contract which used to be the foundation of employment relations in New Zealand. But I have to record my fear that good industrial legislation and minimum standards will count for nothing if the Government continues to embrace the National Party's globalisation agenda. So far the signs are not good. While we can applaud the Government for freezing tariffs on a range of imports, particularly textiles clothing and footwear, at the same time they are trying to negotiate free trade agreements with Chile and Singapore, as a stepping stone to other Asian countries. Over 10,000 people have lost their jobs in these sectors in the last decade because of tariff reductions. If we do free trade deals with the likes of Thailand we can kiss goodbye to even more jobs. The minimum wage there is NZ$6.98 a day. There is no minimum wage in Singapore and Chile's minimum is NZ$11.61 a day.
New Zealand manufacturers and their staff simply can't compete against Third World sweat shop labour. Neither can the New Zealand economy stand the growing deficit between what we import and what we export. The new government has yet to see the sense of promoting import substitution through tariffs and an active promotion of "Buy New Zealand made". Meanwhile the trade deficit for the year to February was $3.341 billion dollars, three times higher than our previous worst deficits in 1985 and 1975. Yes, that figure includes 631M for the frigate Te Mana but it has to be paid for somehow.
We will continue to loose jobs, businesses and control over our economy until the Government faces up to the unsustainability of free trade and sets New Zealand on a course towards self reliance. According to the latest BERL report, prepared for the Industrial Supplies Office of the Ministry of Economic Development, nearly 16 jobs are lost for every million dollars of imported goods which were previously made here. On top of that the job losses lead to increased welfare payments of $159,000 per year, reduced taxation revenue of $118,000 per year and reduced spending power of $259,000 per year.
New Zealand workers' jobs aren't just being lost to sweat shop economies. In fact we have probably lost as many to Australia as we have to China, Japan, or any other country. Certainly for the year to February imports from China increased by 25%, mainly clothing; from Japan by 23%, mainly cars; and from Australia by 29%. Admittedly half of that was the frigate but the rest comprised of a whole range of basic goods we used to make ourselves in our own country by employing our own people. The trade deficit with Australia over the past five years totals $4.223 billion. That represents an awful lot of jobs. If CER with our cousins across the Tasman has been such a one sided affair imagine how bad it will be with Chile, Singapore or the other ASEAN nations?
The Green Party has consistently called on the last Government and this one to introduce new tariffs for job creation and balance of payments purposes. We were hopeful that with the Alliance part of the government there would be some progress on this issue. At the very least there needs to be a proper inquiry into the impact of tariff reductions over the last decade or so and a cost benefit analysis on introducing new ones. We will continue to keep up the pressure.
We will also continue to pressure the new Government to stop the increasing foreign control of our economy. We have a firm policy of stopping land sales to foreign companies and individuals and requiring foreign companies to prove they will contribute to job creation, and environmental and social enhancement before they are allowed to take over or set up a business here. We're therefore pleased to hear that the Alliance at least wants to see a national interest criteria established for foreign investors and support them in persuading Labour to implement it.
Government action alone will not stop New Zealand becoming a land of serfs and servants. I would like to end by issuing two challenges to the Union Movement. The first you can act on today which is to urge your membership to "Buy New Zealand Made" and set an example yourself. By supporting local businesses you are supporting your work mates and their families. Sometimes a locally made product might cost a little more than a cheap import but long term we all benefit.
The second challenge is to develop a strategy to reclaim ownership of New Zealand's productive sector. It won't be easy but it must be done if we want to determine our own destiny. In the process I believe we will find some unexpected allies in the form of farmers and locally owned manufacturers who are beginning to see the stupidity of globalisation. While raising capital to buy back and set up businesses is an obvious hurdle the biggest one is convincing working people that they have the skills, the experience and the potential to share in the ownership and management of the businesses where they work. The role of the union movement is pivotal to any strategy to reclaim local ownership. It will only be through collective action that working people will gain the confidence to form partnerships with their colleagues. I challenge you to lead the way.
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