Ngobi TerisaTERISA NGOBI (Labour—Ōtaki): Thank you Madam Speaker. As always it's a privilege and an honour to speak in this place of change but certainly not only as the member for the Ōtaki electorate but as a member of the Social Services and Communities Committee where this bill was debated really well as we've heard from others. But first before I speak to the bill if I can also just congratulate again the member Ricardo Menéndez March for picking up this kaupapa from Mojo Mathers and championing it through not just select committee but actually through the Whare as well. So ka pai you e hoa.I'd also like to thank of course the officials that helped us through. I think our chair Angie Warren-Clark talked about Justice being very patient with us which was great and also I'd like to thank the submitters one of which is here today in the gallery. So I'd like to acknowledge you Joe Boon for your submission but also—knowing Joe or his whānau from Levin from the beautiful Ōtaki electorate—I'd also just like to say kia ora e hoa and thank you for your submission but also for your tautoko for this bill and for people with disabilities and the disability assist dogs so kia ora to you as well.So to speak to the bill the chairman writes Human Rights (Disability Dogs Non-Discrimination) Amendment Bill"—big mouthful but actually it's a simple change that's going to make a massive change to our disability whānau. This bill is bigger than just that name change; it's about accessibility. It's about making sure that every New Zealander gets to live their best lives with independence and being able to access where they need to go and the tools or in this case the dogs that they need to be able to do that with.Currently under the Dog Control Act 1996 in section 75—as someone has mentioned—and also the Human Rights Act 1993 section 21 you can bring your assist dog into any place including buses trains other public transport places owned by private businesses supermarkets restaurants and other food outlets shopping malls cinemas hotels motels and the like. This right is specifically protected by the Dog Control Act. But it's also protected by the anti-discrimination laws in the Human Rights Act. Under the Human Rights Act if you are treated differently or discriminated against because you have an assist dog this is discrimination on the grounds of disability.While dogs covered in these Acts need to be certified as disability assist dogs by an approved organisation—and we've heard some of those earlier like the Blind Foundation Assistance Dogs New Zealand Trust or Hearing Dogs NZ—the terminology that is currently in the Human Rights Act needs to be amended or changed to say "disability assist dogs" so that it covers the range of disabilities or tasks that disability assist dogs undertake. It's not just about people with low vision or people who are blind or people who are hearing impaired or people who are Deaf it's much more than that. Our disability dogs work with a whole range of physical disabilities as well as some people who experience mental health as well. Just to talk about that we know that for a majority of us dogs are our pets or family—some of us treat them as family members or our fur babies—but for people with physical disabilities and who experience mental health these are their lifeline and they're not pets. These are working dogs that help to make sure that they're safe and that they can live independent lives and that they can carry on doing what they need to do with the safety of a tool like the disability assist dog. This also includes people with epilepsy Alzheimer's PTSD. Some dogs are trained to help open doors pick up objects pull wheelchairs and alert to sounds. So many many various—Hon Member: Tell us more. TERISA NGOBI: I know everyone wants to hear about beautiful fur babies that can do massive work as well. Look under the Human Rights Act 1993 and the Dog Control Act 1996 a dog who has been granted with special rights is legally entitled to public access and this means that they can go to places that humans can go to. That is what we're making sure of with this change that they can continue to do that but it's quite clear around the range rather than limiting it to guide dogs or hearing dogs. We've heard already there's eight organisations so I'm not going to read those out again. Chris Bishop: Come on—yeah yeah yeah come on!TERISA NGOBI: Are you sure you want to hear it? Really? OK let me just do it. Let me just tell you again I'll let you know. So No. 1 we have Assistance Dogs New Zealand Trust. No. 2: Blind Low Vision NZ. No. 3 is K9 Medical Detection New Zealand. No. 4 is Hearing Dogs NZ and then No. 5 we have NZ Epilepsy Assist Dog Trust. No. 6 is Mobility Dogs No. 7 is the Perfect Partners Assistance Dogs Trust and No. 8 is K9 SEARCH Detection. But you know I'm not just going to read those names out because I see I've still got a couple of minutes before we hear from the Hon Simon Bridges so I'm going to tell you what some of those places do. Are you ready? I won't go through all eight—I'll only do a few of them.One of them is the guide dogs from Blind Low Vision NZ. They act as the eyes the mata for the handlers who are visually impaired helping with tasks such as avoiding obstacles and crossing the road. Great work they do great work. The hearing dogs which are from Hearing Dogs NZ not surprisingly and they act as the ears that taringa for handlers who are Deaf or hard of hearing. They alert their handlers to sounds such as smoke detectors doorbells and alarms.I'm looking at the time Mr Speaker and I'm thinking that's already—Hon Member: Hooray! TERISA NGOBI: I know you don't want me to stop but I want to make sure other people can have a chat as well. So look this is about another example of this Government supporting people in New Zealand—all people in New Zealand—to access and that shows in our Government standing up a ministry of disabilities. Thank you to our Minister—Carmel Sepuloni. So more than happy to be able to support this kaupapa. Great work Ricardo Menéndez March. With that I commend this bill to the House. Debate interrupted."