Andersen GinnyHon GINNY ANDERSEN (Labour): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. This is a straightforward bill and we support it. There is nothing that we find controversial in this bill. It follows the process where every five years the Social Workers Registration Board goes through a process of reviewing the relevant legislation and works with the Ministry of Social Development to be able to streamline update or otherwise improve the legislation and see how it's working. The last time this was done was under Labour in 2020 and it's good to see that this is being done again.It makes 16 minor policy and technical amendments to the original Act. These changes really seek to improve the effectiveness and the efficacy of the operation of the Act. The bill also looks at some inconsistencies—so going through and modernising and making sure that it reflects what it needs to be doing. Some of those as have already been mentioned by the previous Labour speaker Carmel Sepuloni go into replacing terms like he" or "she" with gender-neutral terminology.It also transfers the power to obtain information under section 147A the power to obtain information to investigate offences from the chief executive to the board. This goes to the heart of acknowledging that the role that social workers do in our community is an incredibly difficult one and one that we on this side of the House value immensely. It's important that there's a framework and a structure around making sure we protect all of the interests of those involved when social work is taking place.I'd like to acknowledge that my view is that some of the most difficult work is done by the front line of social workers who are often required to go into families where there may be ongoing or high levels of family violence and trying to engage with a family to find the best way of resolving those issues of finding long-term strategies to enable people who love each other to go on and do so while protecting the wellbeing of all of the people within that family unit. It is a crucial part of having a community that is connected healthy and thriving to make sure that those family members within a small or even an extended family are getting all of the things that the need and social workers do an outstanding job from all my experience of seeing their work in the Hutt Valley. They typically go above and beyond to be able to do that.One of the issues that I would just like to flag is that there still is the unresolved issue in relation to a pay equity settlement for social workers that is still outstanding. I know many social workers who will be impacted by this bill are still awaiting to hear what the outcome of the pay equity settlement will mean for them.Of particular concern is that some of those cuts to the Oranga Tamariki contracts have directly affected social workers in my area and in many other people's areas where those jobs have now been lost. It is a real concern. This has been raised with some of these agencies who have lost funding. Their concern is that it is the pay equity settlement that has contributed to some of those cuts. When it was calculated what the increased cost of the contract would be to Government if pay equity was delivered upon there is a view within our social worker community that that has resulted in some roles being cut. That is a really concerning—a really concerning—issue for us. Social workers do an incredibly important job. If we are seeing losses of front-line workers as a way of avoiding meeting pay equity obligations that is deeply concerning for not only the good work that they do but for the future of those families who aren't receiving that support and also to the social work profession. We want people to be able to take up being a social worker with the view of getting all of the protections that this bill delivers as well as having fair pay. I commend it to the House."