9 Sep 2010

Labour minister clarifies prospects of law change

9:49 pm on 9 September 2010

Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson has had to clarify comments made on her behalf on Thursday about the prospect of further changes to labour laws.

Labour Party MP Darien Fenton questioned the Government in Parliament about policies outlined in a Cabinet paper.

The changes included contracting out personal grievance provisions, reviewing temporary and fixed-term contracts and reintroducing a youth minimum wage.

Answering on behalf of Ms Wilkinson, Cabinet minister Pansy Wong told Parliament the Government was ruling nothing out.

Ms Wilkinson later issued a statement saying the Treasury and Ministry of Economic Development wanted the changes to be included as part of the Government's recent reform of labour laws.

But she said the Government disagreed and gave no further consideration to the policies.