40700 (2025). Debbie Ngarewa-Packer to the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety

40700 (2025). Debbie Ngarewa-Packer to the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety: What assessment, if any, did the Government make of whether cancelling 33 pay equity claims would breach New Zealand's obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Human Rights Act, or international conventions on gender equity?

Hon Brooke van Velden: My officials advised that the proposals in my Cabinet paper on the pay equity legislative changes ("Reviewing Policy Settings") were consistent with the Government's Treaty of Waitangi obligations. The human rights implications of the Bill were considered including by the acting Attorney-General who assessed that it appears to be consistent with the rights and freedoms affirmed in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. The Government took its international obligations concerning labour issues into account in its decision making and I am confident that the new pay equity system meets our international obligations.