Neil Sands
The government engaged in “organised subterfuge” when it rushed though sweeping pay equity reforms last year, ignoring the principles of good law-making, acting in bad faith and eroding trust in the parliamentary process, a report into the changes has found.
The report was released by “The People’s Select Committee”, a group of 10 female ex-parliamentarians that former National MP Dame Marilyn Waring established to scrutinise the changes.
The committee, which received almost 1,400 submissions, condemned a lack of consultation over the reforms, which retrospectively snuffed out 33 existing pay equity claims and delivered the government $12.8 billion in savings.
It pointed out that no coalition partner campaigned on the changes and there was no public consultation before they were unveiled and passed under urgency in May.
Instead, it said officials who knew the changes were imminent continued to negotiate in bad faith with parties involved in the 33 pay claims in order to keep the policy under wraps, so it could be presented as a fait accompli.
As a result, changes which had been formulated behind closed doors passed into law without proper parliamentary scrutiny or the opportunity for affected parties to suggest amendments and improvements.
“Orchestrated subterfuge” was one of the headings used [in submissions] to describe the approach the government had adopted,” the report says. “It was secretive, organised and designed to spin a mischievous story about the...
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