O'Rourke Denis: Human Rights Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeO'Rourke Denis: Human Rights Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 22 October 2013. Volume:694;Page:14122. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DENIS O’ROURKE (NZ First): New Zealand First will support this bill the Human Rights Amendment Bill going to the Justice and Electoral Committee. We generally support the scheme of the bill because it gives effect to New Zealand’s international human rights obligations but we do have a number of reservations. The Minister of Justice said that the bill replaces the current mix of full-time and part-time human rights commissioners with full-time commissioners only but the bill does not specify whether the appointments must be full-time or part-time. New Zealand First wants to see a specific provision in the bill for full-time commissioners. If that is what the Minister intended then that is what the bill should say. So we will be seeking an amendment along those lines.Concerning the roles of commissioners instead of a particular role identification in the bill which would mean that a commissioner has sole responsibility for a priority area and would be unavailable for other work the bill provides that there must be a commissioner appointed other than the chief commissioner to lead the work of each of the priority areas which are race relations equal employment opportunities and the new role in the area of disability rights. The chief commissioner is also able to designate a commissioner to lead the work in other priority areas of human rights after consultation with the Minister of Justice and the Human Rights Commission itself. But the areas of race relations equal employment opportunities and disability rights are still explicitly recognised as priority issues for the commission. New Zealand First does agree with that approach. It allows for the specialisation needed in the three priority areas while allowing for the flexibility needed to ensure that the other areas are well provided for too.But New Zealand First is concerned that there is no special priority area for age-related human rights issues. There are many such issues. Ageism is rife in New Zealand. People are discriminated against on the basis of age right across the employment spectrum. Their plight is largely ignored in this country except of course by New Zealand First. We will hold the line against any increase in the age of eligibility for New Zealand superannuation for example. No other party can be relied on to do so. Labour has already commenced the attack. There is also ageism in ACC benefits. People who reach 65 years have their ACC compensation confiscated from them upon application for New Zealand superannuation at age 65. That can occur even shortly after the compensation was granted. This shows that the Government does not understand that New Zealand superannuation and ACC are entitlements not social security benefits. New Zealand First wants to see age discrimination identified as a human rights issue. We know that this Government does not care but we in New Zealand First do.Concerning the number of commissioners the bill provides for a minimum of four and a maximum of five commissioners including the chief commissioner. Will this be sufficient with the extra workload resulting from the disability area and the growing workload of the commission? It seems unlikely to me that five will in fact be enough. And even if it is enough now it is unlikely to be sufficient within a relatively short period of time. Human rights issues and human rights work is a growing area in our legal system and must be properly resourced. It would be wise I think to legislate for a maximum of seven commissioners so that their number can be increased if needed and when needed without the need for further legislation. We think this is justified because as I have said this is a rapidly increasing area in our legal system and it needs to be properly provided for. I look forward to discussion on that issue at the select committee stage.As to the need for the appointment of suitable people for the lead areas I note that the chief commissioner has said: “… as there will be fewer Commissioners those who appoint Commissioners will need to ensure those in key roles reflect the diversity ofNew Zealand.” I agree with that but I also note with satisfaction that in new section 13 under clause 9 and in addition to the criteria in section 11 of the principal Act the Minister must have regard to the candidate’s “(a) understanding of the principles and practice of the priority area in question … (b) appreciation of issues trends and developments … internationally … (c) ability to perform the functions stated in section 16.” Section 16 itself is amended in clause 12 to ensure skills in leadership ability and the ability to contribute to public debate. That is a very important part of the function of these commissioners. I think that these provisions are pretty well-thought-out. They will ensure that commissioners are better able to promote and participate constructively in debate and the commission will not be the sort of ivory tower that we have seen it be in the past.Turning now to the functions powers and responsibilities of the commission there are changes to these in clause 5 of the bill. I think they provide more certainty about the commission’s mandate to undertake its activities and they provide for promotion of compliance with New Zealand’s international human rights obligations. Concerning statements I think this is an important new provision. The bill makes explicit in clause 5(3) that the commission may make public statements on any matter concerning human rights and in particular may comment on the position of the Government in relation to matters that may affect or infringe on human rights and that is not clear in the current Act. It is very important that this clearly be allowed and I congratulate the Government on putting this provision in the bill. It will be helpful to everyone interested in human rights issues in New Zealand.The bill also provides that the commission must report on existing or proposed legislation including subordinate legislation; administrative provision; or policy of the Government that the commission considers may affect human rights. And it must report not only to the Prime Minister but also to the Minister responsible. I welcome that new provision as well. It will mean that the commission will have an open and clear responsibility to inform the public irrespective of what the Government policy may be.Lastly concerning equal employment opportunities the bill provides functions for the commission in relation to equal employment opportunities including the use of benchmarks to evaluate the roles that certain instruments play in promoting equal employment opportunities and also to lead the development of guidelines and voluntary codes of practice and to work with other bodies promoting equal employment opportunities too. I think that those are important provisions as well and they will provide another aspect to the work of the commission.There is much to commend this bill but as I have said there are also areas where amendment is indicated. However for the time being New Zealand First will vote for the bill to proceed to the select committee.