Marcroft JennyJENNY MARCROFT (NZ First): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Thank you. It is an absolute pleasure to stand on behalf of New Zealand First to take my call on the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill in its first reading. The objective of this bill is of course to establish a mental health and wellbeing commission. This bill delivers on a coalition agreement between New Zealand First and Labour to re-establish the Mental Health Commission.In 2017 at the general election on the campaign trail New Zealand First Labour and the Greens all campaigned on needing to ensure that the wellbeing of this country was at the forefront when we came into Government. So that is something we hold together and that was a platform all of us campaigned on. So we would like to acknowledge the Minister of Health for working through this bill the Hon Dr David Clark—working through with New Zealand First on this bill.During that campaign in 2017 I just note that my leader the Rt Hon Winston Peters said that actually we needed to have a national inquiry. We are pleased that He Ara Oranga has produced the results from that inquiry. What it found and what we knew was there was a chronic lack of funding from central government for mental health and it was showing up these alarming statistics. Mike King who many of us know in this House asked what is stable about a system where one had to prove they are suicidal to even access the little services that are available. So it became obvious that more funding was needed to be injected as soon as possible—and New Zealand First made the decision that that would be something we would take to our negotiations.Recently I had the privilege to meet with the initial Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission. We met earlier in October along with my colleague Chlöe Swarbrick and we met what was a very passionate group of people. It was their very first day as a commission together and we met them at the end of their first day in the office of the Hon Dr David Clark. And what I noticed about that group of people was that they all brought some kind of lived experience of mental health whether they had suffered themselves or were clinicians in the field. They absolutely were excited to start their very hard mahi that was in front of them.I'd also like to acknowledge the cross-party mental health group. We've actually had a couple of meetings now—we launched and then we had our first meeting. And you know it's a real pleasure to be part of the group along with Matt Doocey Louisa Wall Chlöe Swarbrick and David Seymour and you know to work in a way that is cross-party for the benefit of all. We heard as we launched from JK and what he said was that he was going to keep an eye on us to make sure that we didn't put politics inside of mental health. So we have that really sitting like a shadow upon our shoulder to make sure that we do keep working in a way that is making sure we don't throw the politics into it. We also heard from Mike King as well—not the group but you know the advocacy of Mike King in the space that he's working. So we know after hearing from these people who have championed mental health and various people in the community who are suffering that now we can take up the mantle and ensure that we have better outcomes for all of those who are suffering and we'll do this by setting up the commission through this bill.Many of us have connections to people who have either had mental health issues or somehow were involved with people in our community. I acknowledge all of those members of this House who have spoken about their own challenges; it's very brave of you and the more that we speak about them the more that we can shine light on them.There is a saying that I've heard from my grandmother actually: where there is suppression there is depression. So if we hold back and push down the feelings that overwhelm us ultimately will lead towards depression. So it's all about being able to speak up and speak out and having that pathway to find a way through and shine a light on the darkness or the cloud that is coming down—or the black dog or whatever you might like to call it.I'd like to talk about my mother. We used to come home from school as a kid and mum would be in bed every afternoon and I just thought Well she's having a bit of a nana nap." She died quite young. It wasn't until I was probably 18 or 19 that I actually found out why she took to her bed in the afternoon. I thought it was maybe that she had five kids and she was exhausted. But no actually in the 1950s she was at art school and she had a very busy life and she had a big overseas trip where she'd won an award to go all around Europe and when she got back she was exhausted. The doctor at the time basically said "Lock her up. Strap some electrodes on her head and zap the bejesus out of her." So she underwent a series of shock treatment and when my grandmother heard about it from Wellington she drove like a bat out of hell—in a very small car—and busted my mother out of that institution. At the time there wasn't the medication that people can take today if they're feeling depressed or have anxiety or go to counselling; it was a one-size-fits-all and let's reset the brain by shock treatment. Now shock treatment is still being used today; it is a very brutal form of treatment but it is thought to be effective. But my mother just needed a rest and she needed to talk. She needed care. So my grandmother busted her out of the institution and took her home. But there were long-term effects from that shock treatment and I didn't know that as a child; I only learnt about them as a teenager. So really what I'm trying to say about my story is that all of us somehow are connected to a story about someone who has mental health issues.So I would like to conclude I suppose that setting up the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission that will have oversight of the industry of mental health will ensure that we don't have people slip through the nets that they get the treatment that is appropriate to them to their culture to their beliefs and that they are looked after and cared for back into a state of wellness. This commission will help to improve the outcomes for all New Zealanders that are suffering. It will help to improve equity for all those groups that aren't able to effectively access the services that they currently need. So I'm really pleased that the commission will have particular oversight into the Māori community and the needs there the Pasifika community the rainbow community the disabled community and any other organisations or communities that need extra oversight. The commission will also hold the Government and future Governments to account and also the decision makers to account. I think that's really important because what we're achieving here today by working in this cross-party way is that mental health issues won't go away overnight; we have to work on them together. That's something that Matt Doocey said—we are all in this together. I'd like to conclude there with just a final couple of thoughts. This independent body will hold the current and future Governments to account for the mental health and more importantly the wellbeing of all New Zealanders. So I commit this bill to the House."