Roche DeniseDENISE ROCHE (Green): Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. I rise to take the second call on the Customs and Excise (Prohibition of Imports Made by Slave Labour) Amendment Bill and I want to thank the member Peeni Henare for bringing it to the House. Ahakoa he iti he pounamu: it is small but it is perfect. What I like about it—and I think this is the best use of that whakataukī actually—is that it is really clear and really straightforward and really simple. The Greens are proud to be supporting this bill. The tragedy of modern-day slavery and forced labour is that it still affects something like 21 million to 29 million people in the world according to the International Labour Organization. We believe that everyone deserves fair work conditions and fair pay. What this bill does is it takes a clear moral stand against slavery and bonded labour. Whether we benefit from slavery directly or indirectly we still need to take a strong stand on it. A couple of months ago the Global Slavery Index was announced and Don Lord who is the Executive Director of Hagar New Zealand—the human trafficking and slavery awareness organisation—said that slavery was increasing here in Aotearoa New Zealand up from what they had estimated to be about 600 in previous years to about 800 this year. Although that on a global scale is very small it is still something that we should be very worried about. Mr Lord also went on to say that New Zealanders should also be thinking about the goods they purchased to ensure they came from 'clean' supply chains." There are ways of doing it; it is called certification. We do it for fair-trade goods all the time. Mr Lord said that "It's definitely something we as New Zealanders need to become more aware of we need to … make conscious decisions." That is what this bill is about. It is about triggering a whole way of ensuring firstly that consumers are able to see whether the products they are buying have come through a supply chain that relies on slave labour and secondly that those products will be prohibited from being sold here. I recognise that this bill is not perfect. There are some issues around the definition of bonded labour or slavery. There are probably some parts of it that will need to be ironed out during the select committee process. That is where we rely on our democratic process and our people. We trust in the people of Aotearoa New Zealand to submit on these bills once we pass the first reading so that we can make better informed decisions and also have the debates about what the best way is to implement this. So this is a perfect bill. This is a bill that basically addresses a huge issue in our world and we should be taking a moral stand about it. I get a bit distressed when I hear—it is just sort of like an ideological response—from the other side of the House basically saying that this is unworkable. I do not believe that that is true. If we have the will and if we trust in our democracy then we will actually end with a bill that will do some marvellous good for consumers in New Zealand. Better still it will make a difference for people who are bonded and who are slaves because if we do not buy that stuff then the demand for it starts to fall away. That is what we need to be doing. I do not want to be part of a supply chain as a consumer where the products are produced through slave labour. This is our way of being able to draw a line in the sand and say no we will not allow those sorts of products to come into this country. We are totally supporting this bill. We would encourage the members on this side of the House to support it also so that it can go to the select committee where it can be improved and debated and discussed and we can have our experts tell us how best to change it so that it is totally workable and we can end slavery in the world."