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Speaker 1: To the cultural leave you can get if you're married.

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Speaker 1: I rang a tommriiki Maori staff get discretionary paid cultural leave,

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Speaker 1: self defined, not subject to managerial scrutiny. If you're not Marie,

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Speaker 1: you've got to take annual leave. How did this happen?

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Speaker 1: Karen Chaws, the Minister for Children, is with us. Good morning,

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Speaker 1: I'm morning Mike.

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Speaker 2: How's things going very well?

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Speaker 1: Indeed, is this real, this discretionary paid cultural leave?

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Speaker 2: Unfortunately, yes it is. When I was made aware of

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Speaker 2: it this week or I looked into it, and yes,

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Speaker 2: it does exist. It was put into union contracts, negotiated

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Speaker 2: contracts prior to me becoming minister in twenty twenty three,

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Speaker 2: and I'm actually quite disappointed that it does exist.

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Speaker 1: Have you told somebody this?

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Speaker 2: Yes, I've been having conversations about how this happened in

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Speaker 2: the first place. But honestly, this happened under the previous government,

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Speaker 2: which had a directive is that we were us in them,

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Speaker 2: and that we were splitting people into different categories based

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Speaker 2: on race and giving different privileges to people based on

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Speaker 2: not who they were or their merits, but their race.

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Speaker 2: We've made it very clear over the last two years,

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Speaker 2: especially as act ministers that we don't accept this, and

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Speaker 2: I'll expect in the future like what has happened across

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Speaker 2: other agencies with this particular cause, because I've found out

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Speaker 2: it's not just an OT contract, it's in other public

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Speaker 2: service contracts that when it's renegotiated that is no longer

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Speaker 2: in their contracts. The Parliamentary Services is one example. They're

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Speaker 2: recent negotiations that is no longer in their contract.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so Parliamentary Services have solved the problem, what are

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Speaker 1: the departments have it?

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Speaker 2: Well? Unfortunately, as minister, I can't scrap signed contracts, but

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Speaker 2: what I can do is make my concerns about this known,

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Speaker 2: so that when there is a new negotiation around the

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Speaker 2: contracts that my concerns are taken into consideration. I guess

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Speaker 2: and the government's directive has taken into concer iteration because

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Speaker 2: the ex party ministers in particular have made it very

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Speaker 2: clear that different rights based on race is unincorrectable.

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Speaker 1: Dred us incorrect. But my question was how many departments

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Speaker 1: have it? How many ministries have it? Is this right

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Speaker 1: across the public service?

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Speaker 2: I wouldn't be able to tell you the exact number,

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Speaker 2: but I do know it is across multiple agencies and

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Speaker 2: when I looked into it, I looked at some of

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Speaker 2: the renegotiations. In the last couple of days. Have been

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Speaker 2: made aware that Parliamentary Services did remove it in their

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Speaker 2: last last round of negotiations. Assume that that would prevail

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Speaker 2: in the negotiation agency.

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Speaker 1: Your language worries me. Can you direct them not to

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Speaker 1: in renegotiation? Can you direct them not to or just

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Speaker 1: hope they don't.

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Speaker 2: Well, we can set a clear director of what the

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Speaker 2: government wants, but as a minister I can't interfere in

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Speaker 2: contract negotiations. That's between the agencies, unions and the Public

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Speaker 2: Service Commission.

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Speaker 1: Jeez, is this on you to a degree? Because all

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Speaker 1: of your parties Act New Zealand First and National to

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Speaker 1: some degree or other said you'd fix this in two

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Speaker 1: years on you haven't.

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Speaker 2: This particular issue here is around negotiated contracts that happened

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Speaker 2: just before I became minister. So twenty twenty three I

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Speaker 2: can't go in and disestablish contracts that is between the

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Speaker 2: Public Service Commission and the negotiations with the unions. So

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Speaker 2: when they do come up for a renewal, there should

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Speaker 2: be a change like there has been across other agencies

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Speaker 2: where this clause is removed.

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Speaker 1: You have a good weekend Caaren appreciated car and your

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Speaker 1: Minister for Children. You find that except I mean I

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Speaker 1: get it. You can't check contracts. A contract, you can't

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Speaker 1: just unilaterally change it. But interesting insight, isn't it? And

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Speaker 1: promises versus delivery, there's another issue for election. For more

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Speaker 1: from The Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks

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Speaker 1: that'd be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast

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Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio out