Brown SimeonSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): Thank you Madam Speaker for the opportunity to take a call on the Lawyers and Conveyancers (Employed Lawyers Providing Free Legal Services) Amendment Bill in the name of my colleague Chris Bishop. It's an excellent piece of legislation and you'd think listening to the member on the other side where she's defined all the problems and said there's so much more to do in this area that actually the Labour Party would be supporting this piece of legislation because actually this is the type of bill which is going to help many of their constituents to be able to access free legal services and to actually get the assistance that they need. The reality is that the chardonnay socialists on the other side have decided again that they'd rather vote for legislation which actually makes life harder for their supporters and people who they say they purport to represent rather than actually trying to work with the National Party to find practical solutions to make life easier.So effectively this piece of legislation has one very important change to the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act to allow a lawyer who is an employee to provide free legal work where the services are provided with the agreement of the employer and in accordance with practice rules made by the New Zealand Law Society. This is not about trying to come up with some dodgy way to get some free legal services done on the side; this is about saying Actually there are around 8000 lawyers who currently are unable to provide pro bono services."—8000 lawyers who are currently banned from being able to assist people and from being able to make a positive difference in the community and to actually make a difference.The reality is what the Government is saying is those 8000 lawyers representing about 58 percent of the profession should not be able to actually provide that assistance in the community and I think that's a real shame because actually this Parliament had a real opportunity with this piece of legislation to really make a difference in those people's lives and for these lawyers to be able to assist in the community.We heard a number of submitters come to the select committee. I was on that select committee. We heard some excellent submissions and look there are issues which needed to be worked through. But that's the purpose of a select committee. A select committee is actually an opportunity to work through the issues take the time and make sure the legislation is going to give good effect to it. And effectively what this Government has said is "Well because this is not perfect we're not going to aim for good; we're going to just say no rather than work through the issues get the advice and make sure we have a piece of legislation which we could support."You know I do acknowledge all parties in this Parliament who did send it to a select committee and I think that was the right thing to do. But the next thing to do is actually to make sure that the select committee process develops it into good law so that all parties could continue to support it because I think there was very much a strong intention to support this piece of legislation all the way through.So I'm very disappointed that the Government has decided to not support this piece of legislation. What they're saying here is that they want to continue to control who can provide pro bono services continue to make overcomplicated regulations in regards to providing pro bono services and what that effectively will mean is we don't get that increased amount of people being able to get access to justice in New Zealand. There was clear evidence which came forward which said two-thirds of law firms spent only about 1 percent to 5 percent of practice time on pro bono work and the whole purpose of this was to try to not only increase that percentage amongst firms which are already doing pro bono work but actually increasing the number of lawyers who are able to provide pro bono services to be able to tap into those 8000 lawyers so that they are able to assist New Zealanders.What I find really ironic is you hear the examples going on about you know "Oh well it's only going to help that sports club down the road—they've got a mate." It's very dismissive of the fact that actually our country is made up of people individuals communities sports clubs marae and actually you know these aren't well-resourced organisations. I think of all the sports clubs in my electorate in Pakuranga which actually yes they might know a lawyer but that doesn't mean they're well-resourced and the only alternative is that they've got to go and now raise the money and pay for the services rather than actually talk to someone that they might know who can then talk to their employer and say you know "Can I have permission and I will of course work within the rules and provide this advice."And we're talking about very practical issues and I can think of many times that I've had examples of issues where I've had to support local sports clubs in my electorate and they've come to see me and it's an issue that I can't necessarily get involved with—it's potentially to do with a lease agreement with the council and actually getting some legal advice in regards to those issues is actually a very good thing. But they come to me because actually you know going to see a lawyer's going to cost them 10 grand and so they come and ask what support and advice I can provide as the local MP. And look as a local MP we do that; we do whatever we can do to support and advise but we're not able to provide legal advice and so it's important they actually have that opportunity.So here is the example of the Government saying to those people "Actually we don't care. Go out there and find $10000. Go and hire a lawyer."—rather than them being able to use people in their networks and to be able to get that support because actually New Zealand is very much a community-minded country. People like to help each other people like to support each other and this Government is saying "Actually no you can't and we're not going to make this better." So it's very much a pity that that's happening.I acknowledge again my colleague Chris Bishop for bringing this bill to Parliament—a practical pragmatic solution to an issue trying to solve a problem—and again this Government puts its ideology in the way and doesn't come forward and actually try to make sure that we help New Zealanders; a real big shame. We continue to support this bill but disappointed with the Government's dismissal."