Andersen GinnyVIRGINIA ANDERSEN (Labour): This bill is part of a progressive journey—for want of a better word—of change in New Zealand and I'm proud to see that there is agreement across the House on making positive change that directly affects the lives of many New Zealanders.I vividly remember at about seven or eight years old coming out on the streets of Christchurch after a family meal to stumble into a protest on the streets. I'd never seen anything like it before. I'd never seen people so angry; people calling out obscenities at one end—words that I was never allowed to use at home or even at school—and on the other side people calling out Out of the closets and into the street!" And I didn't know what it meant. I remember asking my parents "What was that about? Why were these guys in the cupboard anyway? And why couldn't they be out?" and learning about the types of discrimination that had happened in New Zealand.So I'm really proud to see this journey come so far—that the Homosexual Law Reform Act in 1986 in some ways has been let to take its full course by this piece of legislation that removes the stigma and the discrimination of those that were wrongfully convicted under that previous legislation. So I'm proud to be part of that.I'm also proud as a new MP to this House for this to be the first piece of legislation that I have spoken on at second reading that I've directly heard submissions on from members of the public. As we've heard already some of those submissions were really moving and it's great—as a former public servant who only got to write papers and draw diagrams—to be able to directly engage with the public and understand first hand about how laws can impact on people's lives and to be grateful of the opportunity that we have here to undo those wrongs.While this legislation can't undo the hurt that was caused I hope—and I'm sure others here today do—that this will help to patch up to help move forward and to create a better country for people going forwards. While we're reminded when we look at how far we've come in my lifetime from when I was a child seeing those protests to where we're at right now we still have a long way to go—we have a long way to go further. And I believe that that's our duty: to keep changing attitudes to keep challenging those who choose to discriminate in order to keep that journey moving.There were two submissions that I'll quickly refer to and the first has already been mentioned in terms of someone who's had employment opportunities removed from them as a direct result of having convictions under the previous legislation. So this is important—that we have a practical purpose that people should not be denied the right to a job because they're working with children and they've failed a background check. That's unacceptable. That is blatant discrimination and this legislation is definitely needed in order to put that right.I also heard from a good friend—who's already been mentioned tonight—which is Ted Greensmith-West and he to me really represented at select committee a new generation of young people in the LGBT community who aren't prepared to sit back who want to take action who are prepared to be politically active and want their voices heard and that is encouraging.So I see this legislation as two-fold: it's fixing those wrongs but also providing a new environment of hope and of giving young people a country where they can be proud of who they are. And that is so important: that we have those young people prepared to step up and take that.Finally I would like to acknowledge the work of Amy Adams who as deputy chair of that committee was passionate also about this legislation. As the former Minister of Justice she had expertise in this area and knew the legislation very well. That facilitated my colleagues here today from the Justice Committee to fully understand the legislation quickly and get to grips with what we had in front of us. So I acknowledge her contribution.I have no further comments. I'm proud to speak on this bill and I commend it to the House."