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NZ First leader Winston Peters said on Tuesday he would not vote in favour of the Health and Safety at Work Amendment Bill unless amendments were made.
The comments came after a meeting with Pike River campaigners Anna Osborne and Sonya Rockhouse, who were in Wellington voicing their opposition to the legislation, warning it risked a workplace disaster.
Ahead of that meeting, Peters suggested he would reluctantly vote for the legislation, due to the coalition agreement, and then “fix it” after the election.
But he later told RNZ he had given an undertaking to Osborne and Rockhouse that he would not vote for it unless there were changes.
In a statement, a spokesperson for NZ First told RNZ it had been in “ongoing party consultation” with van Velden, “giving our feedback and specific suggested changes”.
But van Velden said that was not the case.
“That’s a complete surprise to me, and I’m the minister responsible,” she said. “I’m not aware of any of these ongoing chats that have happened, because none of them have.”
Van Velden said she had one meeting about a month ago with staff from Peters’ office and another NZ First MP, which she organised so she could brief them on her thinking about some potential changes to the bill.
She said they raised some minor concerns but nothing specific, and did not suggest any amendments.
“So, from my side, I thought everything actually went quite well,” van Velden said.”It’s a surprise to me that this politicking is happening at the 11th hour.”
Van Velden said she had been working in good faith, and pointed out the bill had been in progress for two years, Cabinet documents had been signed off by all three parties and it had gone through the select committee process.
The minister said she did not know what Peters or NZ First did not like about the law and was still willing to meet with Peters on the matter.
“The ball’s in Winston’s court,” she said. “If he wants to come and meet with me, I’m very happy to, but he’s never requested that.”
RNZ / Anneke Smith
The bill – introduced by van Velden in February – would reverse many of the changes brought in by the 2015 Health and Safety at Work Act, which was passed in response to the Pike River tragedy.
Anna Osborne said the government was weakening workplace protections she had worked hard to strengthen.
Van Velden said on Tuesday that consultation with unions, businesses and workers revealed they overwhelmingly felt the law was too complicated and needed simplifying.
It would not cause widespread accidents, she said.The Education and Workforce Select Committee has returned its final report on the bill, and it was due for its second reading on Wednesday.The Green and Labour parties opposed the bill.