O'Rourke DenisDENIS O'ROURKE (NZ First): This is a particularly straightforward simple sensible and very much necessary bill so far as the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind is concerned. For those reasons New Zealand First will of course like other parties have no hesitation in supporting it. The Foundation of the Blind does very wonderful work throughout New Zealand and has done so for a very very long time. It has extremely widespread community support for the work that it does.I had some early insight into this firstly in my early professional career as a lawyer when I worked for the Public Trust Office. I did many wills—in fact hundreds—and other testamentary trusts in favour of the Foundation of the Blind and in fact many many inter vivos trusts as well in favour of the Foundation of the Blind simply because it is such a popular charity. In fact it is one of the most popular charities if not the most popular charity in New Zealand. It is good that that is the case because it is a charity that really needs the funding that it gets and it is that funding that enables it to do things for the blind that would not otherwise be possible.In fact even earlier than that when I was a very young person a toddler in fact there was a blind lady who lived next to us in Christchurch. I have a very enduring memory of that woman. She was quite an old woman even then but she was a very determined and very independent woman. She could not see at all. I remember that she would toddle off in the early morning down to the shops and do her shopping and come back—blind and alone. How she did that I am not really sure but she managed it. I do remember on one occasion looking out the window one frosty morning and seeing her on our front lawn. The lawn was totally white with frost and there she was groping around. She had gone into the wrong driveway and ended up on our front lawn. So I remember vividly as a young kid in my pyjamas and in bare feet going out on to the frosty lawn crunching through the frost and taking her by the arm and leading her next door back to her home. But I learnt from that the resilience that blind people have and the sort of dignity that they have in the way that they live their lives. It was a very great lesson to me about human nature. It has left me with a long—lifelong I should say—desire to see that the blind are well cared for.I know that almost everybody in this country would want the same thing. It also left me with what I would call an appreciation for the courage and positivity that people with that degree of disability have towards their lives. Also I learnt that they have a lot to teach us—that is the rest of us who do not live with such disabilities. They have a lot to teach us about how we should treat each other because you never hear of blind people saying bad words about other people. I do not know why it is but they always have a very positive courageous and kindly outlook on the world. They can teach us a lot.I want to just say that I think that those people and the foundation that has committed—for so long—so much time effort and money to looking after those people deserve all the support that they can get however we may give it in assisting them to raise the funds they need to do their very valuable work. I note that in 2012 the foundation decided that it should become an independent incorporated society under the Incorporated Societies Act and therefore it obviously no longer needs a special Act of Parliament. From its point of view that is a very good idea. As other speakers have said it shows the public that this is not a Government organisation that it needs public support and that it needs public donations in order to continue to do its work. So there is a very good reason behind the repeal of this particular Act. We all are supporting it and it does need support.But it needs more than that an appreciation by the people of New Zealand that they do need to continue their support as they always have whether it be in wills or in donations or otherwise; to continue to support this very excellent organisation and the work it does. So it only remains for me to say on behalf of New Zealand First that we wish the foundation well in continuing its work. It is good to see it flourishing in doing that work and I hope that it will continue to receive all the public support and funding that it needs to have. For all those reasons New Zealand First will be very happy indeed to continue to vote in favour of this bill.