O'Connor Simon; Mallard TrevorSIMON O'CONNOR (National—Tāmaki): Thank you Mr Speaker and taking what will be a relatively quick call in this House to acknowledge my fellow Aucklanders on day 85 of the continued lockdown—85 long days which despite the slight rule changes bringing us to level π I think it is now—3.14786—fundamentally they're still struggling. So this bill's not going to help them strictly unless of course there's more people within the civil service who would like to blow the whistle on this Government and the various activities that they are up to. Therefore this is a good bill. This is actually probably one of the small aspects where you could say this is indicative of an open and transparent Government.Why is this good? It's fundamentally updating a piece of law which has been on the books—I think it's important for people to understand we have had protections for whistleblowers before. There is existing law. But like so many laws it gets out of date and this piece of legislation is timely. It sounds like it's got support from across the House which is not a complete surprise. First and foremost it makes the law more accessible. It's always going to be difficult to create a piece of legislation that is if you will in complete plain English. We are dealing with legal concepts ultimately. But this does make the law more accessible. It doesn't so much encourage whistle-blowing—I don't think that's actually the place of this legislature—but it makes the pathway easier. It explains the reasons of why and how someone can if you will blow the whistle. It's expanding some of the areas which are protected. It describes quite clearly the pathways: who they can speak to and otherwise. Importantly I think the bill also makes very clear that if the whistleblower is wrong and that will happen from time to time they will still be protected. I think a small point as well—but it also illustrates where the previous legislation was outdated and probably wrongly conceived ultimately—is that the whistleblower under this new proposed legislation doesn't have to quote the legislation specifically. What that shows is the previous—or rather the current—legislation is relatively prescriptive. You almost have to go through a rubric a formula to be protected. This is much more open and generous and I think that is prudent. So it's a positive piece of legislation as I said a little bit earlier. I hope it does attract the attention—well it has attracted the attention of all the House—the support of all the House. It's an encouragement fundamentally to people in New Zealand to speak up when they see things happening that shouldn't be happening. I think it was actually Ingrid Leary who was speaking earlier who referenced several occasions in both the public and the private sector when people have stood up and spoken. Perhaps in these times when our systems are under more pressure than ever—I renew that call at the start for those particularly in the civil service to speak up when they see things happening that they're not comfortable with so that we as a democracy can grow stronger. With that on this 85th day of lockdown in Auckland I commend the bill to the House. SPEAKER: I welcome the member to the Chamber.