Henare PeeniHon PEENI HENARE (Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector): Today in the House our Prime Minister defined what true leadership is. It isn't about management; it's about being bold and being able to make decisions that improve the lives of New Zealanders. Sixteen years is far too long to wait for this process. Here we are being accused on this side of the House of rushing through a process denying the select committee the opportunity to make a robust bill in this House. Sixteen years—16 long years. One can only guess at how many families how many individuals who have engaged with social workers over 16 years have needed this bill.That member and also the Minister who introduced the bill in its second reading this evening made it very clear that the mandatory registration process that this bill enables is actually good for both families and individuals and of course the practitioners themselves. It ensures that robust mechanisms are in place for (1) the safeguarding of not only those who receive the services but (2) those who actually work with our people—the practitioners in the field. That's important to remember.So after having gone through a process over a long 16 years and indeed Madam Deputy Speaker under your guidance in your time as the Minister and now under the new Minister and with a Government who are keen to lead—keen to make sure that we can get on with the business so that families right across this country can be reassured that the social worker that they engage with is registered is qualified and is able to provide the service that they need. Madam Deputy Speaker you will know as an electorate MP and MPs right across this House will know the situations that families present to our offices right across the country are becoming more and more complex—more and more complex.We have just finished the inquiry into mental health. We have just finished another piece of work into looking at how we can improve the social welfare system. This is why this bill is timely and we on this side of the House are not going to sit around and wait for debate from that side of the House simply because in the nine years that they were in Government this didn't happen. In fact I recall speaking on it in the first reading in the last term of Government and I am proud—I am proud—that this Government this evening is progressing the bill. We talk about the safety of clients and we talk about the safety of the practitioners themselves. We are also talking about an entire workforce actually—an entire workforce; a workforce that has indeed served this country well. This particular bill will allow it to serve our country even better and to give the families what they deserve.I want to quickly slip on my Whānau Ora hat and make it clear that this particular bill and the social workers that we expect will register with the Social Workers Registration Board are very different to navigators. There is confusion in our community that navigators for Whānau Ora are social workers—indeed some of them are registered social workers and qualified social workers but in other cases they aren't. This particular bill will have a clear separation so that we can clearly identify what a Whānau Ora navigator is in their role and also what a social worker is in their role and I can guarantee that this isn't to separate them; it's actually to complement each other's work because we are working with the same people. We're working with the same families right across Aotearoa New Zealand. So I think this particular bill is indeed timely and I am disappointed that the other side want to try and prolong something that has already taken far too long to come to this stage.Very briefly the Minister mentioned the Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) and flagged it for discussion. We do look forward to that opportunity when the committee of the whole House sits to consider the progression of this bill. We welcome that opportunity to sit down and debate the merits of that SOP. What we do understand from social workers and leaders in our communities is that actually scopes of practice are important and this is where I say once again and our Prime Minister stated the position of the Government today: we're here to lead and we want to be brave when we do that. We know that it might cause some contention and we welcome the debate from the other side of the House so that this bill is robust as it progresses through the House. But we want to get on with the job. Our people across Aotearoa New Zealand can't afford to wait any longer.It's in that vein that I don't wish to trivialise too much more time of the House but I also thank all of the people who have been involved with this for many many years. Some are sitting in the gallery this evening and it's important that they witness the progression of this bill—their hard work and the profession that they serve so loyally and often thanklessly. We want to acknowledge them the many submitters and the hard work of the committee both from the last term of Government and the current term of Government.We are proud and we look forward to further robust debate on this bill and more importantly to the assent of this bill. It has already been described by the Minister that it is staged out so that it isn't the case of flicking a switch to make sure that everybody come Monday is going to have to be at a particular level or qualified or registered; it sets some very clear parameters that will allow social workers budding social workers and future social workers the opportunity to pathway into what I think is a very honourable career. In its second reading I commend this bill to the House.