Mark Gosche has announced he will retire from politics at the election. Gosche has represented the people of Maungakiekie for 12 years and, in 1999, became the first minister of Pacific Island descent. You will be aware of the family tragedies that led him first to step down from Cabinet and now to retire.
Here’s a sample of what will be one of his last speeches in Parliament, on the Minimum Wage and Remuneration Bill (which protects people from being employed as ‘contractors’ as a means of circumventing the minimum wage, a la Reachmedia):
“It is a pleasure to take part in this debate as a Labour member of Parliament. This is the sort of thing we stand for on this side of the House—fairness, not ripping people off, and not misusing the elderly and the young to go out there to make massive profits for people who can get on national television and say they find it acceptable to pay somebody as little as 25c an hour.”
Good on ya, Mark. Best of luck in the future.
Incidentally, another retiring MP put his oar in while Russell Fairbrother was speaking in the same debate-
Fairbrother: …The unspoken [National] script there is that the employer can screw over the worker to maximise the profit, and can describe it as productivity.
Bob Clarkson: There’s nothing wrong with that.
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