Ngobi Terisa; Salesa JennyTERISA NGOBI (Labour—Ōtaki): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. It's because I was probably really quiet for once. Can I say it's always a privilege and an honour to be able to take a call in the House especially as a newbie—so good practice and I'll try and be louder; my apologies. It's also really good to be able to take a call on this bill given that for the Labour Government I sit on the infrastructure environment and transportation caucus and of that the Transport and Infrastructure Committee that the Hon Poto Williams has recommended this Construction Contracts (Retention Money) Amendment Bill goes to. Can I also just say listening to my colleague Naisi Chen stating that this bill really is about our small businesses it really is about our subbies and it really is about our plumbers our electricians but also their whānau eh. It's about making sure that you know no matter what happens they're secure. They're able to pay for the resources that they've put into the mahi. They're able to pay for their time and they're also able to put food on their table when they go home. So yeah absolutely agree with our colleague. We also know that our subbies are reliant on good relationships with those big guys eh—the big contractors. But they're also reliant on a good relationship and the promise that regardless they will be paid the retention money they're owed through their mahi. That's where this sits at the moment given that we know this current regime is voluntary. So this amendment to make sure that that happens is a really good one. I also want to just give a shout-out to some of the subbies that I know from the Ōtaki electorate especially—yes the mighty and beautiful Ōtaki electorate have fantastic construction tradies and subbies in our area. I want to shout out to Jade Strawbridge who does plumbing. He's a subcontractor so is owning his own business—so a small business owner—along with his wife and they have a whānau as well. And also Tony Su who is a big contractor but I know is one of the good guys and treats his staff really well takes on a lot of our young rangatahi especially our young Māori into the industry and puts them through things like Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO) to make sure that we start to train and retain our own. I also want to say to Tony Su thank you for that because he was doing this far before the free-trade training and apprenticeship scheme that this Government has put in place. So I'm quite sure Mr Tony Su will be really happy to be able to further support our new young rangatahi coming into the trade. I also just want to say that my grandfather was also a small business owner. He was also a contractor. He was a plasterer for many many years from Scotland through to coming to New Zealand and I know—having six children and my grandmother who worked from home as well and helped him with those books—how hard that was and how reliant you are on making sure that those bigger guys those big subcontractors pay on time and that they also pay what we know is the retention money and what that means to families like my grandfather's. There was obviously my dad and obviously too people like Jade Strawbridge Levin Plumbing and Gas and also Tony Su. That is why this bill making sure that we clarify and strengthen the retention money regime is so critical. We know at the moment as other people have said that the retention money is a voluntary regime at the moment by our main contractors and so unfortunately I think we all know of stories where some of those big main contractors and I know the Hon Poto Williams mentioned earlier Stanley Group and a few others—what happens when unfortunately due to unfortunate events they go insolvent or they collapse. So you know if you're a subcontractor to that you're way down the pecking order of making sure that you get your payment or money for your mahi. So this ensures that it's not just a gentlewoman's or gentleman's handshake; it's a definite. It has to be put away in that separate bank account—that it's not mixed into what can be used as working capital by our main contractors and that it is separate and this bill ensures that those subbies will make sure they get paid for the mahi that they did. When I was talking about Tony Su and the like I do also want to say we were lucky enough me and my husband a few years ago to be able to do a few alterations on our house. So I've seen the work that he did but also like I mentioned before seen him supporting many of our rangatahi into training and paying for their BCITO. But aside from that I've also seen some of the subcontractors come in. You know those are long hours. They were out unfortunately in the rain. They were working morning to night. You get to know them as you take out—I made sure I made soup for them and a bit of chop suey a bit of an island feed. [Interruption] Yep make sure that we feed them up so they can continue to do the work that they needed to do on our house. But you know you get to know them as you're talking around how they got into the industry but also their families. And they talk about making sure that—you know they are having to hustle for work at that time against so many competing other small businesses and contractors. Well now we know there's a massive boom thanks to the effort this Government is putting into building houses. But at that time they were having to really hustle. So we also know that when they do get those jobs and they spend all those days and hours making sure that they've got something to take home to their whānau that's how important that retention money is. It might be a drop in the bucket for some of our really big guys but for our small businesses this is really important. That's why I'm kind of a little bit confused at the view I guess on this of the last member across the House given that I thought that was something that was so important to you—being able to support our small businesses. That's essentially what this bill does. Like the Hon Poto Williams and also our member Naisi Chen and others have mentioned including Greg O'Connor this bill had consultation with those stakeholders. This bill listened to those small business owners. This bill listened to our subcontractors and the wider New Zealand and our industry and said Yep. We hear that. We hear what happens. We hear that this is a voluntary regime. We hear that you need to make sure that there is money left in the kitty for you at the end of the day and that's why we're doing this." So we really do support small businesses. So yeah I'm quite confused by the last member's speech.However we're doing that what we need to do and like I said we're really lucky at the moment that this side of the House sees the real need to make sure we invest in building more whare more houses making sure that we are making it easier for our contractors—they've got lots and lots of work. Now it's not competing for work; now it's trying to find a builder. So we have a couple of little things left to do on our house and we've been waiting a fair few months and we're happy to wait. Don't get me wrong; it's just a few doors where some people actually need houses. That's what our focus is on and that's why we're happy to wait down the pecking order. But like I said amazing boom at the moment. This side of the House this Labour Government is putting so many initiatives into making sure that it's easier to be able to build rather than just patch up and move houses around. We're also making sure they're fit for purpose and we're also making sure that they're safe warm and dry. That's why these subbies—as well as our big guys but especially these subbies—who come in and make sure that those not the big construction—they're looking at making sure it's warm and dry and making sure they're stopping the house and sealing it up and doing all that kind of work—are safe and are going to get paid at the end of the day. That's what this Government does. It makes sure that it looks after all New Zealanders eh not just ourselves. So it is looking after the subbies as well as the big guys and that is through again another initiative like I've mentioned before—the free-trade training and apprenticeships. That's huge for a small business owner or a subbie—that you're on your own and you might need that extra person especially at the moment with this massive boom and this Government making sure we make it so much more accessible for our subbies and our contractors to build. So you might need that extra one or two people. We've got things like that like the free-trade training apprenticeships. Like earlier the Hon Carmel Sepuloni mentioned the flexi-wages as well to be able to encourage more people into that industry and for our small businesses to be able to undertake that. So proud of this Government to support small businesses and I commend this bill to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The next call is a split call."