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Regulatory Systems (Transport) Amendment Bill — Second Reading
Ngobi TerisaTERISA NGOBI (Labour—Ōtaki): Kia ora Madam Speaker. First can I just mihi to the member Julie Anne Genter—ka pai tō kōrero—and also Arena Williams. Thank you for the opportunity to take a call on this the Regulatory Systems (Transport) Amendment Bill. I'm sure we can all agree in entirety and across this House that the safety of all New Zealanders on our roads is important. And that is why the amendments of this bill are so important because the safety of all New Zealanders is at the heart of this bill. The modernisation and the amendments in this bill ensure we continue to keep safety as a top transport priority by fixing the gaps the errors and the inconsistencies so that it is more efficient and effective as the member Arena Williams talked about. This bill fixes the regulatory system it ensures the safety of all New Zealanders on our roads and therefore I commend this bill to the House.
Williams ArenaARENA WILLIAMS (Labour—Manurewa): Tēnā koe e te Māngai. I stand to take this opportunity to speak where the Māori Party had chosen not to take a call on this bill. I share the member opposite's enthusiasm for regulatory progress in this space. The objective of this bill is to maintain the effectiveness and efficiency of the regulation system created by our legislative system in transport and I am enthusiastic about that because of the renewed focus on safety that this affords. I think that there has been a focus by the previous Government the National Government and it was single-minded as members have noted already in this debate about building more roads and that being the focus of transport. But there is a very real and very important need for our transport bodies to have a focus on safety and regulation in this space and I believe this bill gives the Minister the kind of flexibility that he needs to encourage active regulation which means that New Zealanders will be better served by their regulatory bodies. Kia ora.
White Helen; Salesa JennyHELEN WHITE (Labour): I rise in support of this bill and I'll take a very short call. I thought I'd contribute some additional material rather than repeat it. I think the first thing to comment on is really the significance of something like transport instruments in freeing up the Minister to be able to do what is very necessarily done at this point. I think that the select committee has done some very good amending in terms of making that a much more careful process so there are checks and balances in that system. There will be specified people that the authority is delegated to and the matter will be one that can be subject to the scrutiny of the Regulations Review Committee. That is true too of exemptions. Those are important changes but one of the ones I'm most proud of that's changed is that there is now going to be long-term funding for the seafarers board. That lets our sailors who have been out there in COVID absolutely disconnected allowed to have access to the internet in a long-term way and that's a very good thing and I'm very proud of it. It was an election promise. Thank you.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The next call is a split call. I call Chris Penk.
Bennett GlenGLEN BENNETT (Labour—New Plymouth): Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise to support the Child Support Amendment Bill in its second reading. I want to thank the Minister of Revenue the Hon David Parker and under-secretary Deborah Russell for their work in bringing this to the House; also to the members of whom I am one of the Social Services and Community Committee from all across the floor who got to be part of the debate the conversation and for being constructive through that. Also to our officials thank you for guiding us and for your wisdom. Also especially our submitters for sharing. For many of them it was their personal stories their painful stories—and I appreciate that as did members of the select committee.This bill is about improving the administration of the child support scheme and also helping it to fit into obviously Inland Revenue's Business Transformation programme. I believe that this bill simplifies child support makes it more accessible and also more gracious to people in terms of the penalties. Finally I want to remember the 182000 children who are impacted by families in separation and we do tautoko and support them. I support this bill and it going on to its next stage. Kia ora.Motion agreed to.Bill read a second time.
Child Support Amendment Bill — Second Reading
Ngobi TerisaTERISA NGOBI (Labour—Ōtaki): It's an honour to take a short call on this Child Support Amendment Bill today. It was a good opportunity to review this particular part—i.e. the penalties and the four-year time bar—while Inland Revenue are working through their Business Transformation programme. This bill makes for a fairer penalty in terms of rules and simplifies the administrative process. And with that I commend this bill to the House.
Webb DuncanDr DUNCAN WEBB (Labour—Christchurch Central): Tēnā koe Madam Speaker. The House appears to be at one on this bill and for very good reason. It makes some much-needed improvements and adjustments. I just note the compulsory deduction regime which is proposed is one that really makes significant progress not because it's heavy-handed in any way but simply because people are human and they have oversight and they have other priorities and it just makes the decision for them and ensures that they comply as in most cases they want to with their obligation to provide the contribution to the parent primarily caring for the child. So it's really just one of those things where it's nudging people to make the right decision in a way which makes things a lot easier for them.That's just one of the many improvements in this bill which in some ways is a tidy up of a whole lot of things across the Act to make it more simple more administratively easy and more workable. I commend the bill to the House.
Stanford EricaERICA STANFORD (National—East Coast Bays): Thank you Madam Speaker. I'm pleased to take just a short call on the Child Support Amendment Bill. While I didn't sit on the Social Services and Community Committee I have been an electorate MP for coming on four years now and worked indeed in the electorate office before that for a number of years and I can echo some of the speakers before to say that one of the most often brought cases to electorate offices are child support cases. They are difficult they are emotional and they are often very complex. So anything that we do to simplify this law to make it more easy to comply with and less stressful for parents going through what is a very difficult time in their lives is a good thing.We support this bill. I want to talk specifically about the compounding debt that parents can accumulate. Of course you get parents on the one hand who are shirking their obligations but then you do get a lot on the other hand who have come through my doors who have been through such an emotional and stressful and anxious time that they haven't got on top of things as quickly as they should have they didn't understand what can be a quite complex and difficult to understand process and they've ended up with significant debt. The bill simplifies that and pushes out the date that they will accrue some of that debt and I think that is a very good thing giving them more time to come to grips with their obligations and understand some of the complexities of those obligations. I have to echo the speaker that went before Louise Upston on our concerns around making compulsory deductions from the start. I do have concerns around the fact that as the Hon Louise Upston said this is a matter in the first instance between the members of that family and introducing the employer is not something that in my opinion is the right thing to do. I also have read some of the submissions and I can see that a lot of things that were brought up are very relevant and there is a lot more work to do. A lot of those things that were mentioned are things that come through my office. But there are a lot of complaints and anxieties that people have around people who are shirking their obligations. There is more work to be done. This is a good first step. I commend the bill to the House but I do look forward to more changes to this legislation in the future to ensure that children are getting what they are entitled to. Thank you Madam Speaker.
Kanongata'a-Suisuiki AnahilaANAHILA KANONGATA'A-SUISUIKI (Labour): Mālō mālō e laumālie. It's an honour for me to speak on the Child Support Amendment Bill because I have been a person who never got child support by the partner. So I want to acknowledge the last speaker Karen Chhour but actually the Child Support Amendment Bill amends the actual Act and in the actual Act in section 4 Objects" it talks about—it affirms—the "right of children to be maintained by their parents". I like the component of "compulsory" of this bill because when I was a person who separated from my previous partner it took a long time for child support to arrive and it actually never did arrive. So making it compulsory removes the opportunity for that stressful experience to be experienced by the parent who is left looking after the children. So on that note I commend this bill to the House."
Chhour KarenKAREN CHHOUR (ACT): Thank you Madam Speaker. ACT will be supporting this bill but I have to agree with previous speakers: there is more to be done. It's great that we've managed to change the definition of income" so that it's more fair and the money is going towards the children that need it but I was also a bit concerned that the welfare of the children was never mentioned within this bill. I think we need to be looking at the children's best interests and this seems to be forgotten within this bill.We seem to have a lot of technical changes in this bill but nothing that actually—we had a lot of submitters that came to us and spoke about different issues that were outside of the scope of this bill but you could see where the problems were. I think changing the late penalty regime so that you're no longer getting incremental penalties will encourage parents to come forward and catch up with their payments if a deadline is missed but I also think that—and I agree with National's concerns—these payments shouldn't be going to the Crown; they should be going to the parent that was disadvantaged so that it can help the children which is what the money is meant to be for. I think preventing offsetting losses from previous years of income is fantastic because this can be a way where a parent can hide money and we don't want the children missing out. It should be all about the child.In saying that apart from those concerns my other concern was with small businesses having to take on the extra cost of having to take over collecting money for Inland Revenue. Businesses incur a lot of costs with administering many things and this is just adding to small businesses. But everything else in this bill I am really happy with and I hope that we can come back to the child support bill and make some changes where the submitters were concerned. Thank you."
Henderson EmilyDr EMILY HENDERSON (Labour—Whangārei): The children of separated parents need both those parents to contribute to their financial wellbeing and thus children need the State to run a collection agency for those contributions that is simple certain and fair. I commend this bill to the House because it is a step along the way to that goal. It is fairer because it accurately records the income that parents have by taking into account interest and dividends. It is simpler because it gives parents who are newbies to the system a grace period within which they can be helped to understand. It does the same thing for defaulting parents—getting alongside rather than penalising them with undue penalties. It makes the system simpler by making payment as automatic as your student loan deductions. And finally it reduces uncertainty and it reduces the ability of some minority of parents to cause stress and uncertainty to their ex-partner by unrestrained demands for reassessment of income. It cuts those sorts of discussions off at four years. In summary I commend this bill to the House because our kids need a child support system as short and sweet as this submission.
Warren-Clark AngieANGIE WARREN-CLARK (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise to take a short call on the Child Support Amendment Bill. It's a pleasure to stand here today. This bill is an administrative bill essentially that makes changes to the child support scheme. It does a number of things but before I come to that I'd like to thank the submitters in this process. We heard—including up to some secret evidence. That secret evidence will not be known to this House but we heard a number of stories from people so we want to thank those submitters and the officials for their good and sound advice. It's been well covered but this bill does a few things and one of the things I think is particularly good is the repeal of the incremental penalties. The incremental penalties have been found to be a barrier to paying child support for a very small percentage of people who pay. Look my time is short and I will take a further call in the final reading. But for now I commend this bill to the House.
Mallard TrevorPETITIONS PAPERS SELECT COMMITTEE REPORTS AND INTRODUCTION OF BILLSSPEAKER: No select committee reports have been presented. A petition has been delivered to the Clerk for presentation.CLERK: Petition of Todd Muller requesting that the House urgently review the proposed ban on fishing the Astrolabe Reef and pass legislation to ensure that the Ministry of Fisheries has primacy over protecting coastal fish stocks. SPEAKER: That petition stands referred to the Petitions Committee.Ministers have delivered papers—quite a few.CLERK: Annual reports for 2019-20 of the Auckland Bay of Plenty Lakes District MidCentral Nelson Marlborough Northland Tairāwhiti Taranaki Wairarapa Waitematā West Coast and Whanganui District Health Boardsannual plans for 2020-21 incorporating 2020-21 statement of performance expectations for the Bay of Plenty Lakes District Taranaki Wairarapa and Whanganui District Health Boardsannual plans for 2020-21 incorporating 2019-20 to 2022-23 statements of intent and 2020-21 statements of performance expectations for the Auckland Northland and Waitematā District Health Boardsstatements of intent for 2020-21 to 2023-24 incorporating statements of performance expectations 2020-21 for Tairāwhiti District Health Boardstatements of performance expectations for 2020-21 for the MidCentral District Health Board Nelson Marlborough District Health Board and West Coast District Health Board.SPEAKER: Those papers are published under the authority of the House.The Clerk has been informed of the introduction of bills.CLERK: Appropriation (2019/20 Confirmation and Validation) Bill introductionSunscreen (Product Safety Standard) Bill introductionPolicing (Killing a Police Dog) Amendment Bill introductionHolidays (Parent-Teacher Interview Leave) Amendment Bill introduction.SPEAKER: Those bills are set down for first reading.
Dean Jacqui; Hipkins Chris; Bishop ChrisTHURSDAY 11 MARCH 2021The Speaker took the Chair at 2 p.m.KARAKIA/PRAYERSASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Almighty God we give thanks for the blessings which have been bestowed on us. Laying aside all personal interests we acknowledge the Queen and pray for guidance in our deliberations that we may conduct the affairs of this House with wisdom justice mercy and humility for the welfare and peace of New Zealand. Amen.BUSINESS STATEMENTHon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the House): Thank you Mr Speaker. Legislation to be considered next week will include the first readings of the Commerce Amendment Bill and the Appropriation (2019/20 Confirmation and Validation) Bill and further stages of the Child Support Amendment Bill the Financial Market Infrastructures Bill the Local Government (Rating of Whenua Māori) Amendment Bill the Regulatory Systems (Transport) Amendment Bill and the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2020-21 Feasibility Expenditure and Remedial Matters) Bill.CHRIS BISHOP (National): Can I just ask the Leader of the House whether or not it is the Government's intention to soon make progress on item 21 on Government orders of the day which is the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the House): Of course as I've just set out for the member we've got a very busy legislative programme over the next few weeks but that remains on the Order Paper and it remains something that the Government is looking to advance.
Wednesday 10 March 2021 - Volume 750
VoteA personal vote was called for on the question That the Contraception Sterilisation and Abortion (Safe Areas) Amendment Bill be now read a first time.Ayes 100AllanGenter (P)Menéndez March (P)Smith S (P)Andersen (P)Ghahraman (P)Mitchell (P)StanfordArdern (P)Goldsmith (P)Muller (P)Swarbrick (P)BaillieGriggNash (P)TinettiBayly (P)Halbert (P)NgobiTuiono (P)Belich (P)Henare (P)O'Connor DTwyford (P)Bennett GHendersonO'Connor GUtikereBishopHipkinsOmer (P)van VeldenBoyack (P)Jackson (P)PallettVerrall (P)Bridges (P)KerekereParker (P)WallBrooking (P)KurigerPrimeWaltersBrownlee (P)LearyRadhakrishnanWarren-ClarkCameronLeavasa (P)Reti (P)WattsChenLewisRobertsWebbChhourLittle (P)Robertson (P)Whaitiri (P)Clark (P)LorckRurawheWhiteCoffeyLubeckRussellWilliams ACollins (P)Luxton (P)Sage (P)Williams P (P)CourtMahuta (P)SalesaWillisCraigMallardSepuloni (P)Woodhouse (P)Davidson (P)McAnultySeverinWoodsDavisMcClay (P)SeymourDooceyMcDowallSharmaEagle (P)McKeeShawEdmonds (P)McKelvie (P)SioTeller:Faafoi (P)McLellanSmith DLogieNoes 15Bennett D (P)Luxon (P)Simpson (P)Upston (P)BrownMooneySmith Nvan de MolenDean (P)O'Connor S (P)StrangeTeller:Kanongata'a-SuisuikiSimmonds (P)TirikatenePenkAbstentions 2LeePughMotion agreed to.Bill read a first time.SPEAKER: The question is That the Contraception Sterilisation and Abortion (Safe Areas) Amendment Bill be considered by the Health Committee.Motion agreed to.Bill referred to the Health Committee.SPEAKER: The House stands adjourned until 2 p.m. tomorrow.The House adjourned at 10.10 p.m.
Contraception Sterilisation and Abortion (Safe Areas) Amendment Bill — First Reading
VoteA party vote was called for on the question That the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill (No 2) be now read a first time. Ayes 43New Zealand National 33; ACT New Zealand 10.Noes 77New Zealand Labour 65; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 10; Te Paati Māori 2.Motion not agreed to.
Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill (No 2) — First Reading
12. Question No. 12—Diversity Inclusion and Ethnic CommunitiesIBRAHIM OMER (Labour) to the Minister for Diversity Inclusion and Ethnic CommunitiesQuestion No. 12—Diversity Inclusion and Ethnic Communities12. IBRAHIM OMER (Labour) to the Minister for Diversity Inclusion and Ethnic Communities: What supports were in place for ethnic communities during the recent alert level changes?Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Minister for Diversity Inclusion and Ethnic Communities): The Government has provided support so that our diverse ethnic communities have clear guidance on the alert level shifts and what they need to do at that particular alert level. We disseminated information about COVID-19 in a number of languages through various channels and formats including social media. On Tuesday last week I held a Zui with the Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield and a number of ethnic community stakeholders to address questions they had around COVID19. The Government has also been engaging with individuals organisations and employers from our diverse communities to make sure they have the social and financial assistance they need to stay safe when COVID-19 alert levels change.Ibrahim Omer: What steps is the Government taking to ensure the information is accessible?Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: The Government has set up a multilingual information network that shares important Government information in various languages to ethnic communities. This network also relays feedback and insights from the communities they engage with to help us improve the material we share and the ways in which we communicate. This includes videos and fact sheets in multiple languages. In order to meet the diverse needs of our communities we know that we need to tailor our messages in a way that's relevant to them. The Office of Ethnic Communities has also recently launched a survey to better understand the impacts of COVID-19 on ethnic communities. This is open until 26 March and I encourage anyone from an ethnic community across Aotearoa to contribute to that survey.Ibrahim Omer: What additional support has been provided to ethnic communities?Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: The Ministry of Social Development continues to check in with ethnic community organisations and social service providers to ensure they're well placed to meet the needs of their communities. The Government has also funded community connectors to work specifically with these communities so that they're able to access information and services from across Government agencies. To date the Office of Ethnic Communities has granted over $116000 from the Ethnic Communities Development Fund to specifically support COVID-19 initiatives. This Government is committed to ensuring all New Zealanders have the information they need in order to keep safe from COVID-19.
9. Question No. 9—Pacific PeoplesBARBARA EDMONDS (Labour—Mana) to the Minister for Pacific PeoplesQuestion No. 9—Pacific Peoples9. BARBARA EDMONDS (Labour—Mana) to the Minister for Pacific Peoples: What actions did the Government take to communicate with Pacific communities during the recent alert level changes?Hon AUPITO WILLIAM SIO (Minister for Pacific Peoples): The Ministry for Pacific Peoples moved quickly to provide updated alert level information in nine Pacific languages. This was done by translating language-specific fact sheets providing live updates through social media channels and producing videos with alert level information. Key information was communicated through all Pacific radio stations and Pacific stakeholders were contacted and provided with all relevant videos and channels.Barbara Edmonds: What specific engagements have taken place to communicate to Pacific communities?Hon AUPITO WILLIAM SIO: The Ministry for Pacific Peoples and the Ministry of Health have implemented a joint approach to Pacific community engagement which is aligned to the Government's Unite against COVID-19 campaign. The overarching purpose is to empower Pacific communities about COVID-19 and the upcoming vaccination programmes. Just prior to the alert level changes we delivered a nationwide Pacific Zoom fono that had 600 in attendance to discuss key information around vaccinations with Pacific clinicians and experts. Last week during the alert level change we held 14 regional Pacific language fonos delivered in our nine prominent Pacific languages. These reached our Pacific leaders and communities across the country to get out the key health messages and address questions regarding vaccines. We plan to continue these engagements regularly throughout the year as we roll out the COVID-19 vaccine.Barbara Edmonds: What were some of the issues raised during the engagements with the Pacific communities?Hon AUPITO WILLIAM SIO: Questions were raised regarding what support measures were available to people the safety of the vaccine who is eligible to receive the vaccine how to stop the spread of misinformation and general health-related questions which were all addressed by Pacific clinicians and Government agency staff. We intend to continue holding meetings with Pacific communities on a regular basis as we work through the alert levels and with the vaccine roll-out. We're also planning on the public release of frequently asked questions and answers that were gathered during the community engagement and we'll share that information through different platforms and mediums and directly with stakeholders.
7. Question No. 7—Whānau OraTĀMATI COFFEY (Labour) to the Minister for Whānau OraQuestion No. 7—Whānau Ora7. TĀMATI COFFEY (Labour) to the Minister for Whānau Ora: What recent announcement has he made about Whānau Ora supporting whānau affected by the recent changes in COVID-19 alert levels? Hon PEENI HENARE (Minister for Whānau Ora): Recently alongside the Minister for Social Development the Hon Carmel Sepuloni we issued a press release detailing various support systems and packages for whānau to assist them through the COVID-19 alert level changes. Collectively we confirmed that funding is allocated to social services community iwi and Whānau Ora partners to provide a final support base on needs identified by whānau. We know that Whānau Ora worked with at least 19 Māori and Pasifika providers in Tāmaki-makau-rau to get assistance and information to whānau. Whānau Ora also implemented targeted communications through their networks and workforce so whānau had clear direction about alert level guidelines and public health information.Tāmati Coffey: What other support has been provided by Whānau Ora to respond to the impacts of COVID-19?Hon PEENI HENARE: Through Budget 2020 this Government secured $72 million for 2020-21 so that commissioning agencies are able to support whānau with the immediate and medium-term impacts of the pandemic. With this funding Whānau Ora providers rapidly mobilised their support networks to support over 326000 whānau members. Whānau identified affordability of food rent electricity and other basic needs as an issue. To respond to this over 250000 essential support packages were provided to whānau throughout the country. Availability of learning devices and internet access was also an issue and Whānau Ora providers distributed devices to assist in online learning and assisted whānau to remain connected. The repeated COVID resurgences and associated lockdowns also caused a heightened level of stress for whānau in Tāmaki-makau-rau. To respond to this Whānau Ora providers supported whānau to address mental health wellbeing.Tāmati Coffey: How is Whānau Ora ensuring that whānau understand what they need to do at various alert levels?Hon PEENI HENARE: Whānau Ora providers have trusting relationships with whānau in their communities and have daily contact with them. Because of these strong and trusting relationships providers are able to impart information in a way that is clear personalised and easy to understand. It is my privilege and the honour of this Government to support them to do that.
4. Question No. 4—COVID-19 ResponseDr LIZ CRAIG (Labour) to the Minister for COVID-19 ResponseQuestion No. 4—COVID-19 Response4. Dr LIZ CRAIG (Labour) to the Minister for COVID-19 Response: What is the Government doing to ensure continual improvement in COVID-19 response? Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister for COVID-19 Response): Continual review and improvement has been an integral part of our COVID-19 response. Yesterday I announced the establishment of permanent advisory group led by Sir Brian Roche to formalise this commitment as part of our ongoing commitment to improvement. The Government's chosen an aggressive elimination strategy in our COVID-19 response where containment and closure of any active cases in the community remains the key priority. It allows New Zealand to continue to enjoy freedoms that elsewhere in the world don't exist while we roll out the largest vaccination campaign in our history.As new variants spread across the globe it's more important than ever that we are constantly refining adapting and tightening our border and our approach. This year we began pre-departure testing we mandated mask use across the country on public transport we introduced day zero testing for those arriving in the country we limited more movement in our managed isolation facilities and we've been upgrading ventilation systems to name just a few of the improvements that have been made this year alone. We want our systems to keep changing and improving as our knowledge base continues to grow. Dr Liz Craig: Who is on the Government's COVID-19 Independent Continuous Review Improvement and Advice group? Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The group will be chaired by Sir Brian Roche who has extensive governance leadership and business experience. It will also include Rob Fyfe bringing senior business leadership experience; Dr Debbie Ryan who has decades of public health service with a focus on Pacific health; Professor Phillip Hill an epidemiologist with expertise in infectious diseases and research; and Dr Dale Bramley who brings a broad public health and governance experience along with a Māori health perspective. Dr Liz Craig: What were the Government's priorities in deciding the membership of the COVID-19 Independent Continuous Review Improvement and Advice group? Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: We wanted to keep the group relatively small and nimble. We also wanted to ensure that the membership allowed for a continuation of the work around reviews that's already been done so far—reviews of contact tracing and testing systems in particular—and we also wanted to have a group that would provide a degree of independence contestable advice to Government so that we could continue to drive that process of continual improvement.
2. Question No. 2—FinanceDr DUNCAN WEBB (Labour—Christchurch Central) to the Minister of FinanceQuestion No. 2—Finance2. Dr DUNCAN WEBB (Labour—Christchurch Central) to the Minister of Finance: What recent reports has he seen on the New Zealand economy?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): The New Zealand economy continues to perform ahead of expectations. This is in part driven by our strong export performance with near record high terms of trade. One recent report that highlights this is that Fonterra has lifted its 2021 forecast farm-gate milk price range with the mid-point increasing to $7.60 per kilo of milksolids. This price lift is good news for our rural communities. It means that the cooperative will contribute more than $11.5 billion to the New Zealand economy.Dr Duncan Webb: What other reports has he seen on the New Zealand economy?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Well the construction sector continues to go from strength to strength. Yesterday Statistics New Zealand revealed construction sales reached $19.6 billion in the December quarter. That's up $897 million or 4.8 percent from the December 2019 quarter and follows a $1.6 billion or 8.9 percent year-on-year increase for the September 2020 quarter. The growth in construction sales is driven by home-building and construction services which include trades such as plumbing electrical and carpentry. This is great news and builds on Statistics New Zealand's report last month that construction jobs rose by 21000 people annually.Hon Carmel Sepuloni: What reports has he seen on the impact of a strengthening economy on the numbers of people exiting a main benefit?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: An excellent question. The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) has reported that benefit numbers trended downwards for the first two months of this year. Despite the challenging environment there have been more people coming off the benefit and going into work in the last three months than in any December to February period since the year 2000. The Government has boosted its employment services and I want to congratulate the Minister for Social Development and MSD for their excellent work in increasing significant investment in upskilling and training.
Wall LouisaLOUISA WALL (Labour): Tēnā koe. Tēnā koutou katoa. Firstly I just want to thank people for the engagement tonight. It was thoughtful obviously and it was principled. And I do think that we as a Parliament need to have these discussions in ways where dialogue can happen. So I want to acknowledge all the contributors to the kōrero in the House tonight.The select committee is going to have full rein and scope to assess all the information that comes before it. And as I did with marriage equality I won't sit on that committee; I'll make my submission. But in fact I think the process will take care of itself and New Zealanders will make submissions and we will hear from them.Freedom of speech is interesting because if you look at it by definitions and there may be others it says The power to express one's opinions without restraint." And for me therein lies the issue because we've had recent issues. Stuff have decided that actually no there are some things that they've said historically that were racist. There are other contexts where we may say "This is a form of historical violence against women which is sexist." So there's a history about these activities that needs to be considered because I do consider this historical violence against women and I don't consent to receiving information you may want to receive or you may want to communicate to me.I mean I think that has been the theme tonight as well about women's consent people's consent to posting digital images which may compromise them. Well I think if you asked a lot of women who were having an abortion whether they consented to receiving information that could be an interesting pathway forward because therein lies I guess the balance of different rights and different interests and who are the powerful in different situations and who are the vulnerable—who do we as a society as parliamentarians have to protect. We're actually not limiting the expression of people's opinions about abortion but what we're doing is trying to create a safe zone a safe area where after all those deliberations have been made and women with their husbands families have made the decision they don't need any more information they've made it. You can input information as they're navigating through that process that's fine but I don't think anyone has the right once that decision has been made to try and change that person's mind. And there for me is the heart of the debate here tonight.So I look forward to the select committee deliberations. I want to wish the Health Committee all the best in that deliberation. And obviously there may be some members of Parliament who choose to make submissions.But finally can I acknowledge the Hon Ruth Dyson the Hon Tracey Martin the Hon Amy Adams Barbara Kuriger and Jan Logie. There are some heroes in this House and there are some heroes who have left us. But actually this is about a legacy of women across this Parliament working together to eliminate violence and the oppression of women that has happened for far too long. Kia ora."
Kuriger BarbaraBARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country): Thank you Mr Speaker. I am a proponent of free speech and freedom of speech but I support this bill because I draw the line at targeted protest against individuals. You know would anyone get away with this sort of behaviour anywhere else targeting individual people? There is a place for protests at Parliament. There is a place for protests in the street. But in my view there is no place for targeted protests against individuals particularly when they are in a vulnerable situation. I understand that there are some questions with this bill around the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act and I was really pleased to see David Parker before putting his concerns out on the table and saying but he's going to support this bill through the first reading because what I hope—and I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination around the bill of rights Act but some people in this House are and there's an opportunity to make this absolutely right.We talked before and I think Michael Woodhouse mentioned that we are going to start perhaps going through some of the things around freedom of speech around the Christchurch situation. Now already in front of my committee are submissions coming in on a bill around live streaming of objectionable material. So we're already going to start to get people coming in talking about freedom of speech in that area. Of course that was an abhorrent event but freedom of speech is going to be really large when we talk about that bill as well. So it's a big thing that we are going to be doing. I'm no fan of the latest cancel culture that's around. There are a lot of people around that would cancel a whole range of things and there are a lot of things that are quite—what offends one person doesn't offend another person. Look I know that there's people in this country that are anti-abortion; I know there's people in this country that are pro-abortion. And it's already been said that everyone's got a right to express their views but abortion—the law has been passed it is no longer a criminal act under the law and on that basis I think that people will still hold their views but to target somebody when they're in a stressful state when they've already probably been in a stressful state—for many of them—for a long period of time and they are going in for a private appointment is targeting a particular individual. Even if we've got concerns around the bill of rights Act ethically and morally that's not something that I perceive as a human being that other human beings should be doing.So I'm not going to draw out the length of this speech tonight but just to say let's take this to select committee. Let's go through those bill of rights issues. Let's see if we can tidy up any concerns that people have under that bill around this one and yeah let's sort this out because it's not appropriate to be targeting individuals.
Parker DavidHon DAVID PARKER (Attorney-General): Thank you Mr Speaker. Can I also thank the member Louisa Wall for bringing this bill to the House and thank the National Party spokesperson for women Nicola Grigg for her contribution. I was at secondary school in the 1970s when these events were very very fraught. I was educated at a time when not only was abortion a fraught issue but so was contraception education—in fact I was at school at a time when we couldn't be taught about contraception. I luckily lived in a household where my mother was active in the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand and I'm well-grounded in these issues. I believe it is a woman's right to choose as to whether she has a child or whether she terminates a pregnancy. I am pro-abortion; I have been all of my adult life. I was one of the first people in the Labour Party—actually it was a time when I was unsuccessfully standing for the leadership of the party—to publicly advocate for the removal of criminal sanctions on abortion in the Crimes Act. I mention all of these things because I don't want to be positioned as anti-abortion. But I do want to say that whilst I'm supporting this bill at first reading I do think there is a proper question to be asked as to whether the provisions of this bill go too far in their limitations on freedom of expression.In my role as Attorney-General I am the guardian of civil liberties. I exercise that role largely through reflecting the advice that is given to me by very careful consideration of those issues that comes through the Ministry of Justice who service this House through me in respect of New Zealand Bill of Rights Act assessments with respect of every piece of legislation. Now I abhor the intimidation of women—I abhor the intimidation of women particularly when they're in a vulnerable situation or staff that as Louisa Wall has said are legitimately going about their duties to perform what is a very valuable albeit difficult social service that we need in society. None the less the advice that I have received which I reflect in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act vet that I have tabled in the House suggests that the drafting of this limitation of freedom of expression goes further than is necessary to achieve the purpose which it seeks to achieve. I agree with the purpose which it seeks to achieve. I have made some suggestions that have been worked up as according to the advice that I have received from the department as to how it might be limited in a way that meets the purpose of the bill whilst not infringing the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act protections that are all so important.I haven't made a decision as to how I'm going to vote in the second and subsequent stages on this bill but I do invite the select committee to listen seriously to the issues that will be available to the select committee from officials and to see whether there is a way in which the purpose of this legislation can be achieved without infringing the principles of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act.
Grigg NicolaNICOLA GRIGG (National—Selwyn): Thank you Mr Speaker. I rise to speak in support of this Contraception Sterilisation and Abortion (Safe Areas) Amendment Bill. I commend the member Louisa Wall for bringing this important issue before the House. Kia ora Louisa. I want to preface my views firstly by saying Yes I do understand people who take a certain viewpoint have the right to express those views." But I would counter that right with the need to ensure respect safety and dignity towards women who have chosen this medical procedure. In my view it is not for the people outside of that woman's decision-making process to foist their views and beliefs on that woman.To choose to terminate a pregnancy for whatever reason is absolutely nobody else's choice but the woman who chooses to make it. Further to that it is one of the most enormously difficult decisions a woman may make in her lifetime.I have been frankly disgusted in the past running around Hagley Park where I have seen large groups of at times vocal intimidating protestors shouting chanting and waving placards outside the Christchurch Women's Hospital. To make matters worse they had children with them—little kids holding up signs saying "Abortion is murder." That is why I feel so strongly in favour of this bill. If done right it will create legislation that will create safe zones outside clinics and hospitals. If these safe zones can reduce harassment hate speech and intimidation that these kinds of protestors aim at these extremely vulnerable women then that is the right thing to do.I'm the National Party spokesperson for women and I do see it as my role to advance the rights and protections of women. In my view if we as legislators can do that then that's what we should do. I commend this bill to the House."
Mallard TrevorCONTRACEPTION STERILISATION AND ABORTION (SAFE AREAS) AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingSPEAKER: We now come to the next bill which is the Contraception Sterilisation and Abortion (Safe Areas) Amendment Bill in the name of Louisa Wall. I want to indicate that I have been approached and have declared this bill a conscience vote and therefore there will be personal votes on this and as a result of that the normal arrangements for order of calls do not stand.
Mallard TrevorSPEAKER: Just while the Clerk's adding up the votes—and I'm going to look straight ahead so I'm not being seen to look at anyone—I want to remind people about the rules for eating and chewing in the House. People are allowed to sort of have the occasional lolly but they're not allowed to eat their dinner and they're certainly not allowed to chew gum in the House.
Wall LouisaLOUISA WALL (Labour): Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare. It is a pleasure to do a bit of a retrospective as the chair of the previous Health Committee in the 52nd Parliament with Dr Reti as my chair; this was our first bill the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill. It was a pretty intense process a lot of people who came to talk to us shared stories about their vulnerabilities and the fact that they wanted access to medicinal cannabis as opposed to other pharmaceuticals to relieve their pain.So I want to take the opportunity actually to commend Dr Reti. I mean what we did was create a mechanism to develop the regulations and then to develop through the Medicinal Cannabis Agency a process where we could have New Zealand made medicinal products made available to New Zealanders. That was the purpose and that remains the purpose. I detect the frustration about the process but the reality is we have the Medicinal Cannabis Agency and as Dr Reti and I discussed today they are currently assessing 33 New Zealand-based applications but they may still be six to 12 months away. But within that context having Dr Reti's bill go through doesn't actually make sense. But there are aspects of this bill that I think have merit particularly his focus on looking at the process for GPs to prescribe medicinal cannabis. Who knew that the Ministry of Health and hospital specialists actually had to approve a GPs prescription or prescribing for their patients to be able to have access to medicinal cannabis. I found it really interesting I looked at a woman called Karen Oldfield who works for the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand who had published a report in 2020. So she surveyed 76 GPs and of those 42 of those GPs' patients wanted access to medicinal cannabis so 55 percent. But in fact only 14 or 33 percent of that 42 got the medicinal cannabis prescription. When they asked the GPs why they said because it was too expensive because of that special approval I noted and also because of a lack of strong evidence. But what evidence did they need to be able to prescribe? For 84 percent of those GPs they said they needed a Pharmac-approved and funded cannabis product.So we have a system—some people are frustrated but I actually do think in commending Dr Reti for the amazing work that he did there continues to be an opportunity as a member of the Health Committee to engage with the Medicinal Cannabis Agency about providing our doctors our GPs and our pharmacists with the education and tools that they need to listen to the patient voice. Because it's pretty clear patients want medicinal cannabis we want New Zealanders to develop those medicinal cannabis products for our people and then ultimately to export them to others around the world who think that medicinal cannabis is a better option for them. Kia ora.
van Velden BrookeBROOKE VAN VELDEN (Deputy Leader—ACT): Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise on behalf of the ACT Party in support of the first reading of the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill (No 2). This bill seeks to amend the Misuse of Drugs Act to provide for a medicinal cannabis scheme that is more robust than what we have under our laws. Currently in New Zealand we do allow for the use of medicinal cannabis. We don't prosecute if somebody grows their own cannabis for medicinal use but what we don't have is a robust framework to allow access to the medicinal products beyond growing your own plant those that are cultivated to a high quality and regulated standard in a controlled environment and are approved as medicines that can be sold and dispensed in pharmacies. What this bill seeks to achieve is a safe market for medicinal cannabis products. It would create an environment where those who manufacture medicinal cannabis products will not be able to be located within 5 kilometres of residential areas or 1 kilometre of schools and products would not be able to be advertised to the public.Medicinal cannabis has high levels of support in New Zealand. It's because so many people have a personal story. They know somebody who has suffered and they know that if they developed a condition or the condition deteriorated and the medication that they were on was not enough they'd want another option something else to help them cope. There are many New Zealanders who live with chronic pain and suffer from seizures that could lead more fulfilling lives by being able to access medicinal cannabis products. These New Zealanders want to do the right thing. They don't want to grow their own cannabis plant or get it online. It's not something they do. ACT believes in the inherent dignity of every individual New Zealander. We need to provide more choice for New Zealanders who want another option.This bill would create a safe environment where a person's health problem can be alleviated even if only a little in a safe controlled and familiar way like other medicines that they may take for a medical condition from the local pharmacy. ACT will support this bill at first reading so the public could have their say at select committee. Thank you Madam Speaker.
Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — First Reading