SpeechDr EMILY HENDERSON (Labour—Whangārei): Kia ora te Māngai o te Whare. It's a joy to be able to stand and take a call on this bill and I mean that quite literally. It is a joy to be able to stand and take a call on this bill because I take this call on this small but perfectly formed bill in the peculiar situation of actually experiencing temporary disability. And so I am ever more aware of as my chair on the Social Services and Community Committee Angie Warren-Clark said earlier There but for the grace of God." Because it is one in four New Zealanders who identify themselves as having a permanent impairment that cannot be easily overcome. I note that for adults accidents and injuries are a leading cause of permanent disability and I note that that is particularly the case for men. But I'm glad or not so glad to be blazing a trail for the women in this case as my own temporary experience of disability came as the result of a particularly unedifying accident involving shoelaces and Mount Taranaki. It is humbling to experience the reality of impairment.In this House—I actually had a look to see how many of our members have walked around this place with physical impairment and I noted that the first one appears to be a Clutha Mackenzie who was blinded in World War I. But then there is the remarkable if somewhat divisive early Labour member John A. Lee who lost his right arm also in World War I. We then have a series of other MPs who came here as veterans having lost arms and legs; and then we went on to Margaret Wilson who of course walked these corridors as an amputee; and then the great Mojo Mathers to whom we are all indebted tonight and whose legacy in this House Ricardo Menéndez March has so ably picked up.As I have walked around this House it has really struck me how small things are difficult since I had this accident and broke my leg. It is incredible how difficult it is to do the tiniest things whether it is achieving my personal goal for the last two months which was to be able to walk on one crutch and a moon boot so that I could carry a cup of tea. It's something so simple and yet without assistance I have been incapable of attaining sufficient quantities of my favourite beverage which as my colleagues and my family will attest has not been good for harmony in the household.So when I look at this bill this small but perfectly formed bill that my colleague brought to us in the Social Services and Community Committee I think what's really important about it is it addresses the ableist concept that disability dogs might only include the guide dog and the blind assistance dog of whom we are all aware. But as my colleagues have said disability assist dogs and the capacity of our canine companions to alleviate and enable and facilitate our full lives as people with impairments—they go so much further. So I note that one of the leading causes of disability amongst children is actually psychological or psychiatric impairment or learning disability. And in that respect it is really interesting to consider that we have dogs out there who are able to anticipate when an epilepsy attack is coming on when a heart attack is coming on when a narcolepsy attack might be coming on or even diabetes or respond to anaphylaxis. As the mother of a child with a serious anaphylactic reaction who has had periods where we've had to travel with several EpiPens upon us that prospect and the life-affirming and enabling prospect of having a canine companion who could actually ring the alarm when there is such an incident is a remarkable thing.But at the same time amongst the 75 submitters who were community minded enough to participate in this process we heard of the range of impacts that the denial of the full range of canine assistance—we heard about the impact that's had. Whether it is the inability to get a rental property without quite elaborate ways of explaining to the landlord how important that might be whether it is getting into a shop to have a coffee whether it is getting on a bus—these are all normal aspects of life but without making this change which will hopefully bring about the wider awareness of the importance of disability assist dogs people have been forced to limit themselves and limit their lives. And that is the agenda of this party on this side of the House when it comes to disability: we want to pursue policies that are about enabling people living with disabilities to live good lives and productive lives. That is why we have set up the Ministry for Disabled People that is why we are pursuing a range of Budget initiatives to fund programmes which will assist people with disabilities and that is why we are so very pleased to be able to support this particular bill.One of the things I did want to just be able to talk about because I think it's an aspect of what we do—in my life prior to breaking the leg and coming to this wonderful House I worked quite a bit in trying to make the court a more friendly place for people with vulnerabilities both physical and intellectual and also speech which I noticed is one of the other major disabilities for children. And one of the ways in which we attempted to get the court to open up and be more accommodating of disability was to introduce court support dogs. There was unfortunately—Whangārei was leading the charge we did have a support dog ready to go into court a delightful labradoodle but we were pipped at the post. We were pipped at the post by Tauranga.Angie Warren-Clark: Aha!Dr EMILY HENDERSON: Yes those Taurangians were very quick to see what good things Whangārei was introducing and they had a wonderful dog called Louie—Louie the Labrador—who actually met in his early role I believe it was Minister Amy Adams when she was justice Minister. The impact of Louie on the ability of traumatised and emotionally distressed children to come to court and to give their evidence with clarity and assurance was really remarkable and that is the experience that's been found when those same emotional support dogs are used in other courts around the world. There is quite extensive literature. Now unfortunately in getting ready to give this speech I discovered that Louie passed away quite recently. I hope that out there somewhere there is Louis number two. Maybe we will get up to Louie XVI. Who knows? I see a blond Labrador Sun King.But in whatever we do the point is that disability needs to be recognised in the full gamut and we as a society as a Parliament and as a Government need to be putting in place the full range of measures that would allow people living with disabilities to live good productive lives and live up to their potential. And with that and with some gratitude I now take my seat and the pressure off the moon boot. I commend this bill to the House."