Sosene Lemauga LydiaLEMAUGA LYDIA SOSENE (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. It's a real pleasure to be able to rise and take a call on this very important bill. I do want to acknowledge our member Ibrahim Omer who has brought this important bill the Crimes (Theft by Employer) Amendment Bill of this year.I had to go back to the Hansard to read what the bill was about and the circumstances. And as a new migrant I could only reflect on my own family who had gone through a similar process—but at the time my family did not have the skills and probably did not have the courage. The purpose of the bill is to bring in line the important amendment in the Crimes Act to enable migrant workers but also from our communities—some of our communities have been here a long time. The member in charge Ibrahim Omer has carefully given his contribution and I want to acknowledge him because of his passion but also his courage. He went through probably a very awful episode. It was a tough situation and no doubt reflecting what others had also gone through but did not have the tools or the skills. He as a migrant worker with an employer who thought that he could just make the most of the situation and Ibrahim had lost probably his dignity as well.So in the Wages Protection Act 1983 it's a general rule that employers when they have had employees do work for them that they pay accordingly because those employees deserve the wages and they are not allowed to deduct any of the money that is owed to the employees. So this is an important bill to protect specific employees. It amends the Crimes Act 1961. The bill seeks to criminalise an employer who carries out this action unlawfully—those who would take the employee's wages. So when the bill passes we know that it will give employees certainty to protect those rights. It's been well-considered it's been well-traversed and it inserts a new section 220AA into the Crimes Act 1961 that provides for an employer's intentional failure to pay an employee any money. It is very clear: it is theft. So the enforcement penalties are important because when there are situations as such sometimes our new communities to Aotearoa are too—what we call—whakamā; they're too embarrassed and they don't know what to do. So it is important that this bill reflects that and that they protect the employees. It's important to our representatives in this House as lawmakers that migrant communities have the protection.So I welcome the recommendation and I strongly support our colleague. I thank him for his courage and that the fair pay the protection for workers—we don't want our workers in New Zealand to be exploited by anything. We want our employers to act within their rights that when they have had workers and the workers have done really good work that they pay their employees and that they are protected and it is set up very clearly in law.Just as I wrap up it is important when we have people of other cultures who come to the land of Aotearoa that they understand their rights and obligations and when they do hard work that they are paid a fair wage. The Labour Government has worked really hard in terms of ensuring that Aotearoa has the laws of the land and looks after employees across the motu. I commend this bill to the House.