Pay equity and the People's Select Committee

The fight continues, despite NACT's efforts

The People’s Select Committee has been established by a group of 10 former women MPs from across the political spectrum to hear submissions from individuals and groups who were not able to be heard on the Equal Pay Amendment Bill 2025 due to the Bill being passed under urgency.

Setting up a People’s Select Committee does several things; it shames the government for it’s poor law-making practices, highlights the depth and breadth of public thought on the topic, the and enables adequate scrutiny of the regulatory, economic and social impacts of the Bill. The latter is usually done by Parliamentary run Select Committee’s, where MP’s from across the political spectrum hear from organisations, groups, and members of the public regarding the potential impacts of upcoming Bills. This consideration of evidence provided by those directly affected and the public contributes to a robust law-making process and, ideally, improved legislation.

The current National-led government has shirked its law-making obligations by avoiding public scrutiny on pay equity. Their actions on this matter have left women across a variety of sectors reeling, and stripped away the future financial benefits from them and their families. The latest attack on sick leave also primarily impacts on women and mothers, who are more likely to juggle part-time employment around caring work and domestic duties.

If the changes to the pay equity legislation impact on you, your family, your organisation, and/or community group, you should definitely consider making a submission to the People’s Select Committee, outlining and explaining this. Details are below:

• Submissions open 26 May 2025 and close 31 July 2025.

• Oral submissions will begin on August 11 2025. The first submission hearing will be in-person in Wellington (venue tbc), with subsequent sessions held online throughout August and September.

• You can send your written submission via form below or directly to PeoplesSelectCommittee@payequity.org.nz.

• Please indicate in your written submission whether you would be comfortable making an oral submission if invited.

Marilyn Waring, who has set up the Committee, explains her rationale in this great piece for The Spinoff:

The other report was commissioned by Health NZ and the terms of reference were written by Health NZ. The researchers report that “not enough evidence was received to fully answer the terms of reference”; many documents were not provided, and the wider context of the pay equity system could not be included in the report. This is the sole supporting evidence furnished to support the legislation.

No regulatory impact statement was provided by MBIE. There was no analysis of “the potential for any group of persons to suffer a substantial unavoidable loss of income or wealth”, (due to “ministerial time constraints”), but apparently there was analysis of “the size of potential costs and benefits”. This is an entertaining “yes”, as for a number of years pay equity found itself listed among the “unquantifiable fiscal risks” along with natural disasters and Treaty settlements. So … how come we went from an unquantifiable fiscal risk to billions of dollars, and which wizards hiding where (I suspect Treasury) just made up the figures – because they don’t add up!

Waring is clearly fired up, because she goes on to say:

The minister claimed to be “progressing this bill under urgency because we have to move quickly to make the changes to the act to ensure that the system is workable and sustainable”. No evidence whatsoever was presented to show the system was unworkable and unsustainable. Fourteen claims had been very well settled.

Ideology was the only arbiter for these rubbish claims.

I’m a researcher and I like to see evidence for such significant changes that continue to exploit women – an exploitation that has been present for my lifetime.

It seems van Velden has significantly underestimated the solidarity older women have regarding working conditions, and the need for legislation to prevent the exploitation of women’s labour. While the groups to which van Velden belongs to may not understand or value the solidarity and support workers have, the rest of use sure do. There has been a concerted effort by van Velden and the current government to engage in exploitation of workers; stripping us of our sick leave, reducing our holidays, stifling fair pay, and creating unsafe working conditions.

Protesting in the streets is one way to show resistance. Another, different way, is to contribute a submission and speak to the People’s Select Committee.