Smith Nick: Social Workers Registration Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Smith Nick: Social Workers Registration Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:607;Page:4871] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (NZ National—Nelson) 
: 
 In response to my earlier points the Minister gave one of those lecturing-type of speeches in which he said: “Don’t worry. Trust us. What’s in here is the same as all other similar legislation.” I want to challenge the Minister on that point. I want him to tell of a single other professional body or registration board in respect of which there is the power for the Minister to fire any member. Does the Minister have the power to sack any member of the Nursing Council? No. Does the Minister have the power to sack any member of the Engineer’s Board? No. Does the Minister have the power to sack any member of the Chartered Accountants Board? No. Does the Minister have the power to sack any member of the Plumbers Board? No. Having told this House that this is the same as any other legislation can the Minister tell me whether he has the power to sack any member of any professional board? The Minister has told this Parliament that these provisions are identical. I simply ask him to give me one other example. The library has provided me with the information on 28 other professional boards and its best advice is that for none of them does a Minister have that particular power. 
Katherine Rich 
: None? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Not one. So how can the Minister stand up during this important Committee stage and tell us not to worry because it is the same as every other provision in every other bill? I ask the Minister to perhaps ask his officials to give us an example of one other case. If he cannot then he has misled the House—and the listeners—and that is very serious. 
My second point is this: we all know that social workers working for the Department of Child Youth and Family Services have a huge turnover. We know that they are under a lot of pressure and we know that their salaries are not particularly high. I want to ask this Minister whether the fees for this bureaucratic monster that he is creating will be paid for by the social workers in its employ? It is a very reasonable question because not only do we have the annual registration fee we also have a fee for disciplinary matters. So what does that mean? It means that if there is a disciplinary action against a social worker the cost of that will be imposed on all the other social workers. Can the Minister assure me that the levy that will be struck will be paid for by the department and will not be a sock on the private earnings of those workers in the Department of Child Youth and Family Services? It is a fair question. For instance I know that the Government has just whacked up the teachers’ fee by 80 percent. This Government says that inflation is only 3 percent but it has just increased the fee for every one of our 45000 teachers by 80 percent. Now the Government says that the boards of trustees can make a decision about whether teachers pay those fees and some of them do and some of them do not. But in this case the Minister is the employer. We have I understand— 
Hon Steve Maharey 
: We are not the employer. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: The Minister’s Department of Child Youth and Family Services is the employer of social workers. Are those social workers in the department— 
Steve Chadwick 
: There are plenty of other departments. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Indeed but this is the most significant employer. Can the member from Rotorua give me an assurance that the fees that come from this legislation will not be taken out of the wages of social workers of the Department of Child Youth and Family Services? 
Steve Chadwick 
: It depends on where they work. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: So if they work in Nelson they might; if they work in Auckland they might not? 
Steve Chadwick 
: No in which context. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Well if they work for the Department of Child Youth and Family Services will they be expected to pay this fee out of their private wages? The Chamber is silent. Is that not a fair question? Is that not a question that the Minister in the chair should be prepared to answer? It is a simple question—yes or no. 
Steve Chadwick 
: It is up to their employer. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Well hang on a moment! The employer is the Department of Child Youth and Family Services. The only income the department has is prescribed by this Parliament and this Minister. I want to know who will pay this fee. I do not want to see it as a further imposition and a further nail in the coffin of the huge morale problem within the Department of Child Youth and Family Services. This Minister owes Parliament an answer because he is creating this bureaucracy. He controls that bureaucracy. If he had left the matter over to the profession there might be a fair argument. He has not and he should answer that question.