Woodhouse MichaelHon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National): Thank you Mr Speaker. I want to commend the Minister of Health for what I'm sure was a much more spontaneous speech that he planned to give and all I can say to both the Minister of Health and the Minister of Justice is simply this: I've been there done that and while I don't want to trivialise the issues of stress and anxiety I did see the Labour Party acting whip and the Chair look very anxious for a time before the second reading was moved so eloquently.This was I think a very very cooperative and productive process by the Health Committee ably chaired by Louisa Wall  who I think demonstrated as much empathy with the issues that we were dealing with than anybody in this House could having connections with communities that suffer I think a disproportionate amount in mental health. And it did I think rather cause some stress for her in terms of the manner in which we were wanting to articulate the importance of stressing inclusion through the legislation because as the Minister moving the bill mentioned—and Mr Matt Doocey also I think touched on this as well—when you start a list of people who should be consulted and given consideration of then the risk is that somebody else misses out. And indeed that was one of the underpinning themes of the submissions that the committee heard.I think the committee came up with a very sensible nuanced way in which we can identify those groups to the extent possible without making the legislation unwieldy or feeling like the groups were not included. Mr Doocey talked about two areas. I think a very important one is the impacts of COVID on the need for the work of the commission and also that of rural communities. I want to touch on two others that are listed in Schedule 1A in the amended bill. That is of veterans—and earlier this evening we've been talking about and debating a bill to improve the support provided to veterans and in particular mental health support and post-traumatic stress disorder support because there's no doubt that there is a much wider issue there than has perhaps previously been believed. The other group that I want to specifically touch on is young people. Now the Speaker's Science Forum late last year heard from two experts from the universities of Otago and Victoria on the issue of self-harm in our adolescents. It was an extraordinary journey into an issue that I don't understand but we are learning much much more about not only the reasons for it but the prevalence of self-harm in our young. So I'm particularly interested in making sure that we can use the commission not only to explore but to as the Minister of Health said recommend.Look I know we've had a mental health commission in the past and it was disestablished as the Minister said by the previous Government but it's really interesting to have a look through the history of that commission in the 1990s and 2000s under both National and Labour Governments where a plethora of very good recommendations highlights and condemnations in some cases about the failures of mental health in certain parts of our country and certain types simply were not taken up in the way that they should have been. We actually wanted through the amendments we've made in the bill to make it very clear that this should not just be a passive process—that there should be some teeth in this and some expectation that when they give their thoughtful consideration and recommendations to the Government of the day that be listened to. While I'm not overly satisfied that we've reached the words that I think best articulate that intention I want to put on record my hope and expectation—and that I think of the Health Committee—that that be the place and case for understanding what is a rapidly evolving situation. As Mr Doocey said you know with COVID there is the potential for a bow wave of stress and anxiety disorders for people who have come under a great deal of financial and emotional stress as a consequence of that. But also there are the modalities that can be used in order to address that because that is another area of health science that is moving very quickly and I am particularly interested in the uses of technologies not only in mental health but right across our health sector. This is a particular issue of Mr Doocey's—where therapies that can be deployed particularly for our young are able to be used in a more efficient and dare I say cost-effective manner. I do acknowledge that the Government has invested a significant amount of money into mental health particularly through Budget 2019 but I am concerned that it is not being deployed rapidly enough. And I think as part of the commission's role we don't have the strict ring-fencing I think that we used to have. But I think one of the mental health commission's roles should be to ensure that value for money is got that the investment is targeted effective evidence-based and delivering the best support for mental wellbeing for these groups and anybody else who needs it. With that I'm very pleased to commend the committee's report—I think they did a very good job—and the bill at second reading.