SpeechHARETE HIPANGO (National): Kia ora thank you. I'm the last to take a call for the National Party on the Social Workers Registration Legislation Amendment Bill at the first reading. My colleague the Hon Louise Upston has expressed that the National Party does support this bill although there's some reservation. That reservation is associated with the timing or the timeliness where the process is being expedited to take it through to select committee and being opened up for public comment with scrutiny but being delayed in terms of the repeal being extended out by four years from 28 February 2024 to 2028.The commentary or the debate that's been expressed in the House this evening—there's a sense of rationale for that around pay parity issues for social workers. On that point I want to do a shout-out to our social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand. I've had the distinct privilege in some years past in my life of having served alongside a number of social workers in the days when we worked together in Child Youth and Family Service. That was back in Whanganui and I'm going to do a shout-out—because I often correlate relationships back to bills that I have the privilege of standing and speaking to addressing the House and the public on—to social workers back home in Whanganui. Tasi Sua who was probably the longest-serving social worker in the history of Whanganui social work. Tasi has probably given a good 40 years of dedicated service in this space and he's well-known in the community for the good work that he has done intergenerationally. Shout out also to Christina Gush. Christina and I we started out together—where it just happened to be in my former life as a lawyer—working in Child Youth and Family Service. I taught the legal component to the social work bachelor's programme back in Whanganui and this bill in part is looking at the importance of social worker competency and registration. And that's for those who went through the institutions of a Bachelor of Social Work or social work diplomas. So I worked with social workers in that space and we had that journey of experience towards their registration as social workers.This bill is addressing an alternative in terms of experience pathway for those social workers who come from life practice and experience of not having gone through the bachelor or the diploma or the formal tertiary education institution system for that training. And so it's very important that there is that avenue particularly when our nation is in crisis mode with all the fallout that effectively social workers are having to pick up the pieces and try and band-aid or mend. And so with this bill as has been heard in the debates before the House there is that formal pathway but this is recognising those social workers registered by way of an alternative experience pathway meeting or satisfying competency and requirements that are assessed by the Social Workers Registration Board. And again the chair of that board is Shannon Pakura. Shannon was the chief social worker of Child Youth and Family Service in the days when I served in the office back in Whanganui. Shannon whakapapas to Whanganui too relationships. And importantly Shannon has taken her vast lifetime of commitment and service as a social worker as a former chief social worker with the organisation now known as Oranga Tamariki and applying her skill her analysis her experience and her service in that role of chair of the Social Workers Registration Board.The National Party does support this bill. We value social workers and the valued work and commitment that they give to our people and our communities of Aotearoa. But it seems that the reason that this bill—in terms of the experience pathway that has been extended out for another four years is because the Government has been a bit slow on the pace in picking up and addressing the pay parity issue to value our social workers. That's been done now but it's not happening quickly enough. Like everything else slow on delivery. Where there's value there needs to be recognition and the timeliness of that.So the issue that the National Party has is we value our social workers and valued them to the extent and the point of not dragging and delaying necessary matters that need to be put before this Government and passed into law. So also on a final note and commentary I did a little bit of research and I saw that on 21 March this year which was World Social Work Day the Social Workers Registration Board published its findings of a 2022 workforce survey. And that survey identified that the biggest challenge for the sector is recruitment and retention. Thus the importance of the experience pathway where there haven't been enough social workers go through that formal institutionalised tertiary level - type training. And that the other challenge is followed closely by pay parity.So the point is the National Party supports this but the Government: get on and deliver. Stop dragging the chains on this. Value the people who need to be valued most importantly for the contributions that are being made particularly at this time when Aotearoa New Zealand is in a state of crisis. The National Party commends the bill to the House.