Warren-Clark AngieANGIE WARREN-CLARK (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. First of all before I begin my speech I'd just like to address Dr Jin Yang around his comment about living in poverty. I thought it was very interesting that the entire group across in the Opposition laughed as if there was something wrong with living in poverty.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Can we just get on with the bill. And it's Jian Yang—Dr Jian Yang.ANGIE WARREN-CLARK: Jian Yang—thank you.So to the bill: it's an utter pleasure to stand and take a call on this bill. The Rates Rebate (Statutory Declarations) Amendment Bill is a small but good bill and I want to congratulate the Minister the Hon Nanaia Mahuta for bringing this amendment and bill to the House. It is an interesting bill in that while it is small this good piece of legislation is the kind of thing that my community is really looking for. As you may be aware my community is filled with a large number of superannuitants a large number of people who are in need of support. So being the ninth least affordable city in the world this is a bill indeed that will support my community.I'm also delighted that the bill is coming to the Social Services and Community Committee. I am a member of that and to endorse the member Chlöe Swarbrick's comments I look forward to the submissions.Now to the bill: the statutory declaration creates physical and financial barriers. So by doing away with the physical and financial barriers we're actually enabling people to generally access this easier. Being physically present—and we have heard this—is quite embarrassing for people. Michael Wood: Will the member yield the floor?ANGIE WARREN-CLARK: I yield to the member.Michael Wood: I thank the member for yielding. Just on the point that she has raised I wish to ask her a question by way of example. I have a woman who lives in my neighbourhood who is elderly and who for various reasons is unable to leave her home but is eligible for the rates rebate and every year she has to come around to my house for my signature to be able to progress with her rates rebate. Is it likely that this bill will assist with her situation?ANGIE WARREN-CLARK: I thank the member for his question. Absolutely—this bill is designed 100 percent to support your elderly community member. I think it is important to acknowledge two facts one fact being that she doesn't need to physically be in person appearing and secondly the other part of the bill is that she can actually do that online if she's able to. So in answer to the member: absolutely this will prevent her having to physically do that. Now it's absolutely a delight to continue to talk on this bill because essentially as the member has asked the question many of us need to think about the old people in our communities or the infirm—those who are in wheelchairs or having difficulty accessing and getting access to this. It's really important that we remember that there is the ability absolutely to now do this online. I'm really looking forward to hearing from the submitters and I really hope even though the Opposition are not taking very long calls that we will actually have a number of submitters who will tell us how important this is to them and how accessible this will be for them. So finally in conclusion or just before I take a seat I think it's also important to note that local authorities are not going to incur the cost to mitigate these barriers any further. That's really important for our communities our local bodies and that is important essentially because what we know is that this in-person compliance is absolutely—I guess it's a 1970s piece of legislation that we're modernising. I commend the bill.