Newly appointed Workplace Relations and Safety Minister, Act's Brooke Van Velden has begun her new post by extending the 90-day employee trial period to all businesses in New Zealand and starting work to repeal Fair Pay Agreement legislation.

The trial period was previously restricted to small businesses and a bill to set the change in motion will be passed under urgency by Christmas.

Mike Hosking asked Van Velden on the Mike Hosking Breakfast why she chose to define her new minister position by starting with two specific pieces of legislation, instead of tackling hot topic issues such as teachers and performance pay.

Van Velden's response echoed her support for the Government's wider agenda.

"We've got some extensive reforms coming in the education sector - and in health and safety work," she told Hosking.

"But I'm 100 per cent committed at this stage to getting what is in our deal for the first 100 days across the line. [The two pieces of legislation are] what I'm set on at this point."

When asked whether allowing all businesses to use the 90-day trial period was anything more than window dressing and was simply about sending a message, the Act minister said the message it sent was clear.

She said her government would be delivering what the country voted for - it was one of her party's policies it entered into coalition agreements with.

"What we're wanting is to send a signal that this Government backs business," she said.

"For us, it doesn't matter if a company has two or 200 employees - there's always a risk with employing a new staff member. We want to make sure that our employment law is as flexible as possible, so every business knows that if they want to take a chance on a new employee then this is a government that backs them to do that."

Hosking asked if the Government would be able to point to the outcomes of the policy and justify it through the number of people who were hired through it.

Van Velden said she hoped those details would come to light in time and noted business confidence had been lacking for the previous six years.

"What we want to make sure is anybody who might have been feeling hesitant bringing on board a new employee if they don't have the right skills, or experience, or attitude, now knows 'Yes, I do have the chance to bring them on board'."

It was pointed out to the Act minister that the Fair Pay Agreement was never a policy that was set in motion, Hosking said it was an idea that "sat around" and nobody enacted it - although Labour might have if it had been re-elected.

Van Velden said it was about repealing the bargaining process set up for fair pay agreements.

"You're absolutely right - nobody is worse off through the repeal because there have been no agreements finalised, so what we're repealing is the bargaining process which is the status quo," she said.

Van Velden explained that the last 30 years had seen a flexible labour market that "works well for businesses", a blunt tool that forced all employees and employers to have the same standards.

"Even if businesses couldn't afford it, it would have been really bad for our economy and some businesses would have had to close, workers would have been worse off, so this is better for employers and employees."