O'Connor Simon: Home and Community Support (Payment for Travel Between Clients) Settlement Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeO'Connor Simon: Home and Community Support (Payment for Travel Between Clients) Settlement Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 11 February 2016. Volume:711;Page:8952. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SIMON O’CONNOR (National—Tāmaki): I am very pleased to speak in the second reading of the Home and Community Support (Payment for Travel Between Clients) Settlement Bill. As I begin can I thank the Hon Annette King for her very kind words at the start of her speech to myself and my fiancée. Indeed I will even bring a healthy celebratory snack to the committee next week.Jacqui Dean: Not healthy!SIMON O’CONNOR: Yes I am trying to get away from the bad habit of sort of teasing the committee with doughnuts and sugary things.Jono Naylor: It is the Health Committee after all.SIMON O’CONNOR: It is the Health Committee after all but sometimes there is a role for irony.I just want to thank the last speaker Louisa Wall as well and I suspect others who will speak on this bill for the support that they have shown not only obviously in the vote for this bill but actually in the work that has gone on. In that vein I just want to make three observations. First yes to the union officials to the home and community support workers and to all those who advocated in this space: thank you. In particular what was shared in the committee was well appreciated.To the officials and to the Parliamentary Counsel Office and all of those who have worked: you have worked incredibly hard on that. They rather not you Mr Assistant Speaker; I am sure you would have. But officials and others have worked incredibly hard on this. In that relationship—and I think we saw it during the consideration and then deliberation phases—where a submitter may have raised a particular question or concern we were able to turn very quickly to officials to resolve the situation. More often than not nine times out of 10 the official had already had the conversation. So again thanks to both those parties. Thanks also goes to the whole committee. It is a very collegial committee I would say at the best of times and I think it was certainly shown here.We have made some very good changes and I am particularly pleased to hear the Minister note that he is happy to accept all of them. To the Ministers who are involved with this Jonathan Coleman and Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga—I think we were pleased to work with the Ministers. It is a relatively simple bill but one that has some very significant changes within it.As other speakers have noted this legislation is something that has avoided a court process. There has been a clear need for the Crown—the Government that is—to step in and provide some recompense for travel. I think we are picking up on what others have said. It is something; it is not as much as everyone would want. Obviously the Government has to focus on sustainability but it is a step in the right direction to acknowledging not just the transport costs but the important work that goes on here.It was a cooperative discussion between the likes of the district health boards community and health support groups the unions and Government as I said just a little earlier. It avoided the need for court intervention. I think the Ministers involved and certainly the select committee were very clear that we needed to get this bill back into the House as quickly as possible. It became a matter of priority for the Health Committee to hear the submissions to consider the evidence and to make the changes to the bill. Again I think it is with thanks to all those involved including the Parliamentary Counsel Office for being able to draft things very swiftly to bring the bill back here to the House.I am not going to go through all the changes—many of them are just quite technical—but I think there are two things I personally want to highlight. One is that the bill obviously sets up a regime for reimbursing travel for home and community workers. Importantly it also has a transitional section to it. That will be known to people working in the sector but there is sort of a twofold element there. The second is that we were very keen to get the definition if you will around what home and community work is. We started with something quite prescriptive. I think the committee officials and others rightly saw that we did not want in this piece of legislation to lock in a definition or a way of seeing things that might actually block some further development in the industry. I think we have been able to get some clarity but leave it open enough to obviously see whether there is any evolution in this space.Finally I want to finish by echoing what I have heard from some members. I am sure that from all there is thanks to those who do work in this home and community space. I am no expert in the field—I have bumped into people who work there be they constituents friends or acquaintances. It is remarkable the job that is done and the care the love the support that is given. I think again this is a step in the right direction.Finally I do just want to acknowledge not only the work that was done but the conversations that were had and that more work and discussions will be had going on—everything from recompense right through to training acknowledgment of services and otherwise. Thank you very much.