Wayne Mapp MP
National Party Industrial Relations Spokesman

25 July 2006

Field: Labour turns blind eye to own labour laws

When it comes to employment law, it seems there is one set of rules for Labour MPs and another for everyone else, says National Party Industrial Relations spokesman Wayne Mapp.

In Parliament today, the Minister of Labour said the department had not launched an inquiry into allegations that minimum wage regulations were breached by Taito Phillip Field.

Dr Mapp says that under normal circumstances, the Labour Department would not wait for an official complaint before launching an inquiry into allegations of a breach of employment law.

“Why is that not the case when the allegations are against a Labour MP?

“The allegations have been swirling around for months and have been more than validated by the Ingram report, but there is still no inquiry.”

The Ingram report found that Mr Field substantially underpaid Thai immigrants, to whom he provided immigration assistance, for their work upgrading four of his properties.

Dr Ingram said he was ‘concerned by the unsatisfactory nature of the explanation provided by Mr Field’, and that Mr Field gave three different stories on each of the three times he was questioned by Mr Ingram.

“Either the Minister is not on top of the portfolio or Labour has adopted a new policy that all breaches of minimum wage law will be ignored where they concern Labour MPs,” says Dr Mapp.

ENDS

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