Newman Muriel: Social Workers Registration Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Newman Muriel: Social Workers Registration Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:607;Page:4872] 
Dr MURIEL NEWMAN (ACT NZ) 
: 
 I did appreciate the Minister taking a call a little while ago. I now know that he has answered the question I asked about whether he was prepared to invest in his department. The Committee will recall that the cost of upskilling his staff or registering the departmental staff in the Department of Child Youth and Family Services was about $30 million. I asked him to tell us whether that was why he no longer requires the department’s staff to become registered. Was it the cost? He failed to answer so that means that we have a Minister who is not prepared to provide the support if one likes for his department so that it can take a lead in becoming a registered agency. 
I think this is a very serious issue. I understand that there are 989 full-time staff in the Department of Child Youth and Family Services and some 580 of them are unqualified. The cost to register them at $14000 a head would be about $30 million. From what the Minister failed to say it means that he is not prepared to make that investment. If he is prepared to I would like him to tell the Committee. Does he expect the department if it is going to support the staff to find that funding internally? Will he be granting it from the Budget process? I see he is making all sorts of moves with his head and I would like him to put the answers on record by taking a call. 
An issue of extreme concern to me is that the Social Workers Registration Board has the absolute discretion to grant registration based on any criteria at all that it thinks fit. The original assumption was that registration would be based on having a social work diploma qualification. But I understand that that board which is appointed by the Minister could change it. It could decide that instead of needing a qualification that 5 years’ experience would be enough for someone to be eligible for registration. I understand that the Minister has seen papers that outline that to him. It means that this Minister could decide that someone does not need a qualification; someone needs only 5 years’ experience. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. 
Dr MURIEL NEWMAN 
: Before the dinner break I was reiterating that there are some 580 social workers in the Department of Child Youth and Family Services who are unqualified. It would cost the Government around $30 million to provide for their qualification and registration. But now we understand that the new Social Workers Registration Board has absolute discretion to grant registration based on any criteria that it deems fit. I think most of us thought that registration would be granted on the basis of whether the applicant had a diploma or a qualification of some sort. We understand that the board could change the basis of the criteria to the number of years a person had been in practice. Therefore 5 years’ practice could make a person without a qualification eligible for registration. 
The implication for the department is that instead of costing $30 million it would cost only $12 million to register the 264 people who would now need registration. If the Minister has a lapdog board made up of Labour Party supporters he can save the Government a cool $18 million by changing the criteria that everybody expects. I would like the Minister to take a call on that very very serious matter. I do not think that most social workers in New Zealand realise the discretionary power that the board has. It amounts to an opportunity for political interference at the highest level. A Minister can change the criteria if he or she has a board that is compliant. I ask the Minister in the chair the Hon Steve Maharey to tell us what safeguards the profession has to know that political interference will not be undertaken either by himself or by any other subsequent Ministers. 
The Minister has to realise that Labour will not be in power for ever. Many of us hope that at the next election the balance of power will change. The Minister has to think about what he will do if he is in Opposition and he sees a National Government Minister changing the criteria to suit him or her. It is not in the best interests of the profession. We need high standards in this profession not political interference.