SpeechJAN LOGIE (Green): Thank you Mr Speaker. I'm pleased to rise and take a call on the appropriations for the Offices of Parliament which includes as others have covered: Vote Audit Vote Ombudsmen and Vote Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE). And these three—just for people who kind of don't get their heads around Offices of Parliament and what these agencies do—are central parts in our system of scrutiny and accountability of Government to make sure that Government is using money wisely. They provide advice through the Vote Audit in terms of select committees to enable Parliament to do its job as well as auditing in detail the agencies. They also provide advice—the Ombudsman—around legal accountability for Government agencies and Ministers indeed about whether they are doing their job according to the law. And of course PCE has oversight around the environmental protections and standards across the country.And because some of their findings may be uncomfortable to Governments—and I'm not talking about this Government; I'm talking about Governments generally—the possibility always exists that Governments could choose to run down their funding to lessen scrutiny and accountability. The funding for these agencies the decisions about it go to a committee that's chaired by the Speaker and includes every party in this House. And as you'll see tonight they came to consensus around the funding of these organisations. I think it's one of those really important moments to note of our Parliament collectively standing by the importance of scrutiny. I look forward to the day when the funding for our Parliament also goes to that committee because if we believe in the concept of scrutiny and the importance of de-politicising that then I believe that the funding for this place should also go to that committee on the same principle.We don't want to see that situation—just one other point about taking it out of the normal Budget process; the importance for me is I wouldn't want to see this being put up against you know funding for nurses or teachers and there being a trade-off because scrutiny is not a publicly appealing idea. You talk Ombudsman most people have no idea what the Ombudsman does—sorry Justice! But that is the reality—and most people have no idea about the audit process either. But it's absolutely essential to the checks and balances of power. So it's great that we avoid that trade-off.So this—and this has been canvassed a little bit so I'll go over it fairly quickly—will deliver an increase in funding for the Auditor-General because they have been experiencing significant funding pressures in the impact of COVID. Delays and audits kind of creating a backlog an increase in the requirement for audits with new funding streams coming on board to deal with the impacts of COVID and the challenges we're all facing and the complexity of those audits as well. At the same time they've been experiencing a real pressure on auditors' capacity and availability which has meant that more audits have needed to be contracted out to the private sector which has an additional cost to it. So audit costs have increased faster than fees. So it was an agreement that we would cover that.Also the Ombudsman has had increased roles around the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment which is really important; and included roles in managed isolation and quarantine and ensuring safety of people; protected disclosures; oversight of Oranga Tamariki—quite controversially we didn't support that but we do support them being able to do the work that they've been given well; and projected complaints related to the cyclone.And then PCE who didn't request an increase but it is noting they will be in the future because they're really struggling in terms of the increased complexity of the environmental regulatory system and the struggle to get the right qualified people. Really really important work. Good to have Parliament's commitment to the continuation of this work.