Radhakrishnan PriyancaHon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Associate Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety): Tēnā koe Madam Speaker. Can I begin my contribution with a word of thanks to the Education and Workforce Committee chaired by my friend and colleague Marja Lubeck. Thank you for the work that the committee has done to produce the report and can I also acknowledge all those who submitted as part of this inquiry.The report reflects as Marja has said previously what we found also through the 2019 temporary migrant worker review that was undertaken by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) that looked into the specific kinds of measures that the Government could take to stamp out migrant exploitation. As many members in this House have said this is unacceptable and that is why we embarked upon the review process to find out what we could do to stamp out this issue of migrant exploitation.Many have shared stories in this House about the exploitation that many others have been subjected to and I spoke this morning when I announced some further steps that we're taking as a Government of a person that I supported many years ago prior to entering Parliament who when I worked through with him his bank statements had been paid on average $4 an hour well below the minimum wage. He'd been made to stay in a room that was just slightly bigger than a single bed and had been locked in that room on weekends so that he couldn't access any of the support that he might have otherwise. This is exactly why our Government has taken such a strong stance to end this exploitation and I absolutely do not accept that what we are doing is the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff or that it is not good enough because frankly no other Government has taken the steps that we have to do this.In line with the select committee report what we're wanting to do is to prevent migrant exploitation from ever occurring. We're doing that through a programme of information education and awareness raising. As the select committee has pointed out in our own research commissioned by MBIE many migrant workers aren't aware of what their basic employment rights are in Aotearoa New Zealand. Many employers of migrants are not aware of what their legal compliance should be and so we're ensuring that we do what we can to expose both migrant workers and employers to those rights.Today I announced for example the community pilot that we are undertaking with community organisations—business networks like the Pacific Business Network and other associations like the Restaurant Association who already have links with these community groups to ensure that they are supported to access tools that they can use to avail themselves of the information around those rights as well. The deterrent effect of the bill that was introduced into the House today will also take many steps to ensure that employers for example who repeatedly refuse to comply are made to comply or for example are disqualified from directing or managing a company. There are further infringement offences in that bill as well that will have a deterrent effect.We're also ensuring through tools that came into effect in 2021 that migrant workers have the avenues that they need to be able to report exploitation in a way that is safe. Many migrant workers have said to many of us on this side of the House over many years that they have felt that reporting migrant exploitation would result in them being deported. That was one of the key concerns and main fears that was shared with us. And so we ensured that there is an 0800 line that allows for direct reporting of exploitation an online form in which people could do that and the 0800 line has translation into about 180 languages and also the migrant exploitation protection visa that speaks to the fear around linking—you know the link between them and the power imbalance between them and employers. This allowed migrants to report exploitation without the fear of deportation and no migrant who has used this avenue has been deported to date.The final point to that is the enforcement and ensuring that we strengthen the enforcement and compliance regime that we have to ensure that employers comply with their legal obligations and stop profiting from the exploitation of migrants and that's the step that we're taking with the introduction of the bill to the House today. So I absolutely reject claims that we are soft on exploitation or that we don't take this seriously or that it's the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff because it's not; it's the fence at the top of the cliff. Thank you Madam Speaker.