Potaka TamaTAMA POTAKA (National—Hamilton West): Tēnā tātou katoa i te pō nei. E te Māngai koutou ko ngā ruahine ruanuku rua rangatahi o tēnei Whare ataahua tēnā tātou katoa.[Greetings to all of us tonight. To the Speaker and also the sage-like ladies the enlightened men and enlightened youth of this beautiful House greetings to all of us.]It gives me great pleasure to speak briefly to the first reading of the Social Workers Registration Legislation Amendment Bill. I'm reminded of a great man called Taina Pohatu who used to spend many days in the Māngere campus of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa down there at Canning Crescent just around the corner from the KFC who was a doyen of social worker methodology and pedagogy; someone who was a real visionary in the Māori education space around social work. I acknowledge that the social workers that I've met are huge contributors to our hapori to our communities and that good social workers generate very positive outcomes in health especially mental health family health whānau health. People like my wife's niece Jannica Clark and her colleagues in Hamilton West—actually down there on Collingwood Street—working in tough situations like Melville Bader and my personal favourite Fairfield.The bill extends the time of the experience pathway as a means of registering for the Social Workers Registration Board and the delay is sought for four years. I acknowledge the comments made about the need for this. Some of you might recall that the National Party Te Rōpū Nāhinara introduced the Social Workers Registration Legislation Bill way back in 2017—different time and place. So we support this bill—tautoko. E tautoko ana te Rōpū Nāhinara i tēnei pire [The National Party supports this bill] at this first reading.Now the experience pathway requires the board to be satisfied of an individual's experience and whether it's sufficient instead of having a recognised qualification. The main criteria of course: the story of one's pathway into social work—and some people have quite an intrepid journey into social work through sports some through culture some through addiction. They get there with those experiences and take those experiences with them and are able to actively engage and listen to those people that they seek to help—their employment history and herstory other qualifications held and competence.Retaining the experience pathway in my view allows for the continued demand—high demand for social work—to be better met for the kaimahi that are working in this space and credentialises those who have the clear work experience and actually the life experience in order to help those people in need to help those people that need that tautoko and to practise as officially registered social workers.Clearly and my colleagues may have socialised this the issue that we have is that the context of the proposed delay is that we've got an ongoing challenge to make progress in the pay equity settlement. Reading through the Public Service Commission's website there is an implication that the work required to sort this matter will not be completed in the foreseeable future. So there is some mahi to be done there is some mahi to address those outstanding pay equity issues but it's one that I look forward—ultimately—to closure around. There probably aren't enough good social workers out there given the great demand for kaimahi hauora but we agree that a delay of four years seems safe and more importantly gives the Government time to address the settlement issues that remain outstanding. I want to take my pōtae off. Ka tangohia taku pōtae ki a [I take my hat off to] Taina Pohatu me tōna momo—Taina Pohatu and those members of his ilk in the academic and practice professions of social work. Tēnā tātou katoa.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Tangi Utikere—five-minute call.