Pugh Maureen; Parmar ParmjeetANNUAL REVIEW DEBATEIn CommitteeDebate resumed from 9 May on the Appropriation (2022/23 Confirmation and Validation) Bill.CHAIRPERSON (Maureen Pugh): The House is in committee for further consideration of the Appropriation (2022/23 Confirmation and Validation) Bill. This is the debate on the financial position of the Government and the annual reviews of departments Officers of Parliament Crown entities public organisations and State enterprises as reported on by select committees. There is one hour and 46 minutes remaining in this debate. New Zealand National has 15 minutes remaining. New Zealand Labour has 57 minutes remaining. The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand has 15 minutes remaining. ACT New Zealand has 27 minutes remaining. New Zealand First has nince minutes. Te Pāti Māori has 16 minutes remaining.The Government has indicated that the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety and the Minister of Agriculture will be available today to respond to members' questions. Each debate will be led off by the chairperson or another member of the committee that considered annual reviews most closely related to the Minister's portfolios. These speeches should be a non-political report back to the committee from the select committee. The Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety is here for 45 minutes to respond to members' questions.Workplace Relations and SafetyDr PARMJEET PARMAR (ACT): Thank you so much Madam Chair. On behalf of the—Dr Tracey McLellan: Point of order. Just seeking some clarity. You've just said that the debate should kick off with the chair.CHAIRPERSON (Maureen Pugh): Or"—I did say "or". Just let me find it—"led off by the chairperson or another member of the committee that considered annual reviews".Dr Tracey McLellan: So we can have some clarification that the call is another member of that committee?CHAIRPERSON (Maureen Pugh): Yep—for the workplace relations? Yes. Education and Workforce Committee—yes that's correct.Camilla Belich: Point of order Madam Chair. The chair of the Education and Workforce Committee which oversaw this particular review with the Minister is currently available I understand so I'm just wanting clarity as to why that has been allocated to another member of the committee. It's highly unusual if the chair is available for it to be conducted by another member.CHAIRPERSON (Maureen Pugh): That is correct but as I said "or another member of the committee". If the chair seeks a call they will certainly get a call but Dr Parmjeet Parmar sought the first call so I'll continue. Thank you member.Dr PARMJEET PARMAR: Thank you for that clarification. It's a real pleasure to take this call on behalf of the Education and Workforce Committee and lead this debate into the annual review of WorkSafe New Zealand. During this hearing we heard from WorkSafe New Zealand and also the Minister. The committee considered this to be an important area for the committee as we have the workforce component along with education and I must say that the committee is a very busy committee—we have very long meetings—but it has been worthwhile to hear from WorkSafe New Zealand and also from the Minister in charge the Hon Brooke van Velden.I want to acknowledge the work of all of the members of the select committee. I also want to acknowledge the chair Katie Nimon for leading the committee. As I said it's a real pleasure for me to lead this debate of the annual review of WorkSafe New Zealand.As we know WorkSafe is working towards three outcomes—that is preventing work-related illnesses protecting mental wellbeing at work and achieving equitable health and safety outcomes. During the annual review we looked at the performance of WorkSafe New Zealand for 2022-23 and we focused on the financial situation of the entity. We asked questions around the $17.8 million funding gap which has been identified for the 2023-24 Budget. The response that we received from WorkSafe New Zealand was that this was not because of overspending but it was because of some financial practices that were not well managed.We were also told that for the current year they have been using surpluses from the previous years. We have also been told that the entity WorkSafe New Zealand has taken some measures to close that gap and that is by disestablishing some roles—128 roles were disestablished—and with that the funding gap has been reduced by about $12 million. When we received the report at that time WorkSafe's headcount was 654. So that restructuring happened and because of this the funding gap has been reduced. We were assured that this restructuring did not affect investigator or inspector roles and nobody in the front line was affected. We discussed workplace harm and trends and we heard that there are some industries where injuries happen more often—not just injuries but also deaths at workplaces. These industries are forestry agriculture manufacturing and construction. We heard that it was difficult to compare across these industries because of the size and the scale.We heard that Māori Pasifika and migrant workers are overrepresented in these stats—those who get injured or have fatal injuries at workplaces. We heard was that this was not because these people are Māori Pasifika or migrant workers but it was because these people are also overrepresented in sectors that are considered to be high-risk sectors like I listed before—forestry agriculture manufacturing and construction—and that WorkSafe is doing everything possible by collaborating with other agencies as well to make sure that these kind of injuries and deaths can be reduced. We heard that they have been collaborating with the Employers and Manufacturers Association. They are also working closely with ACC. We heard that WorkSafe New Zealand has been responding to some emergencies and unexpected events as well. It was important to hear that they have been providing some guidance to employers as well but what was interesting to hear was that the proportion of people who found its guidance very useful dropped from 94 percent in 2020-2021 to 79 percent in 2022-2023. We asked the reason for this decline because this is a significant decline. We were told that this is because WorkSafe has been quite thinly spread out. That takes me to the hearing that we had with the Minister the Hon Brooke van Velden—CHAIRPERSON (Maureen Pugh): The member's time has expired."