McLellan Tracey; Rurawhe AdrianDr TRACEY McLELLAN (Labour—Banks Peninsula): Thank you Mr Speaker. It is an unexpected pleasure to briefly rise in lieu of the fact that the Māori Party have not taken their call on the Social Security (Financial Assistance for Caregivers) Amendment Bill. I think the thing that strikes me having sat here in this House for this part of this process and listened to the previous contributions is just the sheer number of colleagues who have got lived experience whether it be through their early lived experience as we heard from our colleague on the other side of the House Karen Chhour or whether it be further on in life and the lived experience that my very dear colleague Glen Bennett possesses in terms of his wealth of experience as a caregiver over many years now. I think it kind of highlights that it's one of those things one of those adjustments one of those pieces to life that whilst it's fairly obvious we all agree on it needs impetus and requires someone to sort of take that bull by the horns and progress this and champion this. So I'd also like to acknowledge not only the Minister Kelvin Davis for picking up and for recognising the importance of these simple but meaningful changes but I'm sure he would also like further acknowledgment to be extended to Tracey Martin for first tackling this work.The bill as has been talked about on several occasions this evening simply seeks to improve the financial assistance for caregivers of children who are unable to be cared for by their parents. As many of us can either remember or relate to sometimes life can just be really precarious and sometimes there but for … goes anybody" and what could be a relatively stable beginning can turn out quite differently through various sorts of life experiences. It's incredibly important that children have someone to care for them if they can't be cared for by their parents but as has been previously discussed the financial ramifications or the financial considerations that come along with that can indeed then end up being another stressor on top of that situation.That's certainly not ideal particularly because the development of children—we all know that certain developmental periods and certain phases that we go through in childhood are incredibly important and set the scene for lots of future development. Children are very sensitive and they crave stability so anything we can do to rectify and to fix what might be simple fiscal considerations is worthy of consideration—let alone the types of things that children naturally do when they start comparing themselves to others and start making really unfortunate comparisons if we don't rectify those situations.The proposals in this bill extend the financial assistance to support children also being cared for outside the State care system and that's another important consideration. There shouldn't be differences between those two types of needs. The bill by extending the eligibility for the orphan's benefit and for the unsupported child's benefit to carers who expect to provide care for less than 12 months—again noting the precarious nature and the unforeseen circumstances that many people can find themselves in and who within those unforeseen circumstances and the most precarious actually require that consideration and help.So considering all of those things and the removal of the 12-month rule when establishing the birthday and Christmas allowances the gist of all of this really is to create a fairer and much more equitable process for everybody. It certainly follows a report that looked into various aspects and one of the key findings—reiterating—was that there was a lack of equity in the payments and support for caregivers outside the State system and those within the State system. So it seems that the Social Security (Financial Assistance for Caregivers) Amendment Bill is a pragmatic sensible and well-supported means by which for us as my colleague Glen Bennett from the mighty New Plymouth said—an easy means by which we can all go home feeling that we have achieved something good and proper today. Thank you.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The time has come for me to leave the Chair for the dinner break. The House will resume at 7 p.m.Sitting suspended from 5.57 p.m. to 7.00 p.m."