Stewart Barbara: Home and Community Support (Payment for Travel Between Clients) Settlement Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeStewart Barbara: Home and Community Support (Payment for Travel Between Clients) Settlement Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 11 February 2016. Volume:711;Page:8955. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]BARBARA STEWART (NZ First): First I must congratulate Simon O’Connor on his good news. I think it shows that newspapers are still very important even in the digital age. We did not hear anything at select committee.It is my pleasure to speak on behalf of New Zealand First at the second reading of the Home and Community Support (Payment for Travel Between Clients) Settlement Bill. We must thank the officials who helped enormously as this bill was going through the Health Committee to ensure that for any changes that we wanted to make we had the full information so thank you very much. New Zealand First also totally supports this bill. We are very pleased to see that this bill is formalising the agreement that has already been negotiated between the 24000 to 28000 community support workers unions providers and the district health boards to ensure that these valuable workers are actually recognised for the travel that they do between clients. Travelling between clients is definitely work: no one would be doing the travelling between clients if it was not for work.We are also very pleased to see that ACC was included in this legislation. We realise that there are a lot of people on ACC who need home-care assistance as well. This basically is an issue that should have been resolved years ago and I know that Parliament has received petitions and protests on this very issue. We must give credit to Jenny Goodman and the Public Service Association and Tamara Baddeley. This bill is important because home-care workers keep clients out of rest homes and many people want that independence at home rather than living in a rest home. So it is really important that they are paid correctly. This is a group of workers that are generally paid at a low rate and the current turnover rate is about 40 percent—far too high for any industry any sector in the employment area.I would like to quote from a submission received at the select committee from Melissa stating that for some home-care support workers the financial gain makes it possible to stay in the sector and: “Beyond the low pay for most support workers there are currently no guarantees in the number of hours they work per week. It’s a bad combination of working conditions that has led to a destabilised workforce with a nearly 40 percent turnover rate.” Home support worker and union delegate June Conner also said: “There are so many variables beyond our control that being paid for travel time takes some of the edge off. For example if a client goes to hospital that means I am down those hours for the week. So I might start the week thinking I have X number of hours but if I have a high-needs client who goes into hospital I could … lose one-third or even [more] of my anticipated hours.”That is not a very secure working environment particularly in this industry and in today’s hard economic times. We have to thank that group of people who have basically carried out an enormous task for many years under very trying circumstances. It has not been easy. So really we come to the point where it is essential that there is a sustainable future home and community support service because we know that the demand for this service is going to grow at an unprecedented rate into the future.The interim solution that has been agreed—and I will read from the bill—is that between 1 July 2015 and 29 February 2016 the workforce will be paid a figure that represents the minimum wage for the average time spent travelling between clients. From 1 March 2016 this will change to employees being compensated at the minimum wage for qualifying travel time and they are to receive no less than 50c per kilometre for that qualifying travel time. I have to note that the IRD estimates that 74c per kilometre is a reasonable estimate of what the costs incurred by the employee for running a motor vehicle are but I would say that these employees would be very happy initially with the 50c.When we look at Part B of the terms of settlement “Establishment of a RegularisedWorkforce and Review of the Home and Community Health Sector” it is very relevant and very important to the development of this bill. I am very pleased that all parties want to work towards a regularised workforce within the 24 months following this settlement agreement taking effect. Certainty of employment is absolutely essential in today’s economic environment.There have been some important changes in this legislation such as the removal of the 20 kilometre limit for travel and the removal of employer zones. Employer zones are definitely impractical and not a part of the settlement agreement. In New Zealand First we believe that there does need to be a dramatic overhaul of the entire funding of the sector with a focus on workforce planning to futureproof New Zealand from the coming crisis that is predicted in the care sector. This needs to be the start of a continued effort by Government to get the funding and the organisation right in this sector and to give the home and community support workforce the support that they deserve. New Zealand First is very happy to support this legislation.