Kanongata'a AnahilaANAHILA KANONGATA'A (Labour): Kia ora e te Mana Whakawā. It's an absolute privilege to speak on the Charities Amendment Bill. I disagree with the last speaker the Hon Louise Upston. She spoke about this bill creating more harm. Well I totally disagree with that.I am a member of a charity and I want to acknowledge the 28000 charities and all the important work that they do particularly the volunteers in charities. Like I said I'm involved in a charity—Radio Tonga of Aotearoa—and we are all volunteers. One of the changes that submitters have told us—all 95 submitters told us—is that they wanted to ease the burden on small charities in terms of financial compliance. I can tell the House that I have been a treasurer of the PACIFICA women's organisation and it takes a long time to complete all this compliance that needs to be done. So this change that we're bringing in is allowing the regulator allowing the chief executive to reduce very small charities' compliance in terms of reporting. Another change that we're bringing along: when the bill was first tabled it required charities to review their governance procedures just to see if their charitable purpose was still according to their first charitable purpose. The bill had said 1 year". Submitters said that one year was too short and that a lot of work needed to be done to get that submitted. So we listened to submitters. In the bill as now amended we've amended it to "3 years" so that charities will now have three years to look at their governance procedures and to make amendments to that.I want to also talk about these practical bold changes as something that will in my experience as a treasurer as a secretary—and I deliberately for one of the organisations that I am in chose not to hold a position in terms of an officer because I know there is a lot of paperwork that needed to be done. So obviously this bill also defines the word "officer" in terms of a charity. So even though let's just say for myself I am a trustee of Radio Tonga of Aotearoa—even though I don't hold a position as a secretary or treasurer—I am still one person that makes significant decisions in this charity. So that will encapsulate me as one of those decision makers holding me accountable for decisions made by the trust that I currently am part of.What the bill does is it also enables the charities to review the decisions made by the chief executive. What that means is that there is a list—I can't remember it at the moment; doesn't come to mind—that also identifies that if the regulator or if the chief executive has made a decision about a charity and removes their charitable purpose removes their status the charity can actually—it widens the scope for them to review that decision made by the chief executive. Also one of the things that it does is look at the best-practice guidance clearly defined. Lots has been said about what submitters have said in terms of the first principle but what we did hear is that the submitters did agree to some of the changes that the bill had set out. I want to acknowledge the submitters. Of course I am a member the Social Services and Community Committee. I want to acknowledge our chair Angie Warren-Clark who does a really good job. We're a really good committee. She enables us to have a point of view and I think that's what committee chairs need to do: allow members to voice their opinions. I want to also acknowledge the leadership of the Minister the Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan for shepherding this bill into the House bringing all her experiences into the House.Again I want to point to the fact that part of this bill is about empowering the regulator to ease financial reporting for very small charities which will reduce their compliance enabling them to continue with the much-needed work that they do. I commend the Charities Amendment Bill to the House. Mālō."