Bennett GlenGLEN BENNETT (Labour—New Plymouth): Kia ora Madam Speaker. Wow! I rise to support this piece of plain language legislation. And I guess in listening to our previous speaker when he's used words like stupidity" and "dumb ideas" I'm not sure what school he may have gone to what university he may have gone to but for some of us we need plain language not because of our intelligence but because we live in a different world. Not a world that's based in Wellington not a world that's based here in Parliament or in universities or in high-class boarding schools but people who just live real lives. So I find it offensive that he would say that this is a stupid piece of legislation and I believe that we need to ensure that we have plain language wherever we go.Now language is always evolving always changing. It's responding to human needs. And I'm guessing that Chris Bishop doesn't want to respond to human needs he just wants to have his own little beltway life with his own language and way he operates. But as language evolves and as it spreads around it creates different areas and different spaces and whether it be in law whether it be the marketplace whether it be learning or religion whether it be in politics or in the Public Service or in storytelling it's always reshaping and reforming to fit in with what's going on within the culture of the time.Now having language means you're able to communicate having language means that others can understand you and hopefully you can understand others—I didn't quite understand that last speech but that's OK. But language when you have it becomes more powerful when it's understood by a wider community. Power grows when we can communicate with more people in more spaces. The question I have this evening and the question I have for Chris Bishop is: "Who is the language serving when it comes to our Public Service when it comes to what's happening within Government—who is the language serving?" And often it's serving the bureaucrats the politicians it's actually not serving the people. And for me I came into this House to serve the people and ensure that people understand.Now I have a quote here from an accessibility activist who talks about "Language is not only a key component of communication it is also a key aspect of identity. The words you choose to use become part of who you are. Through language you become part of the community that speaks that language … The more you master a language the more powerful your connection with your community [becomes]." And I think when I read this quote I think about my early life in community development. I remember speaking with a young woman and she was going through a Government department and she actually wanted to fess up because she was living with her partner and she hadn't declared it. But she was talking to me one day and I said "Well good fess up. It's always nice when you do that. Why haven't you already?" And she said it was too hard and I said "What do you mean?" "Well" she said "I've got this form I've got to fill out and I don't understand it; it's 13 pages long. That's why I haven't bothered declaring that I'm living with my partner that I shouldn't be living with and getting this payment." So we went through it the complexities of it because it wasn't in plain language as it should be.Also in my work with young people—and how often we are negotiating different services within the Public Service—and often it's sitting down with them and spending time which I'm not sure if the previous speaker has done in terms of working through different forms when you're interfacing with Government agencies. So for me this isn't stupid legislation. This is a brilliant idea because for me the people I connect with and work with need plain language because language is power. And often we like to retain that power. That's why we don't want maybe this piece of legislation to pass because maybe in this House we might lose some of our power. I want to thank Rachel Boyack for sponsoring this bill. I look forward to seeing it go through the first reading and go to select committee just to ensure that all people in Aotearoa New Zealand have access all people in our nation are able to understand to communicate and that the language of this House the language of the Public Service serves everyone in our nation."