Faafoi KrisKRIS FAAFOI (Labour—Mana): I do not disagree with the member who has just resumed his seat Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi that it is very important that vetting should be done for people working in our communities who are in positions of responsibility whether it be over the elderly or the young. The big debate around this piece of legislation—and I think it is accurate to say it has spluttered its way through the legislative process—has been what at the first instance this piece of legislation proposed to do what it was sold to do and what it is actually going to achieve. When this piece of legislation was introduced in November 2014 after the Government came into power in that election it was proposed that for events put on by concert promoters and people holding sports events where there would have to be an extra police presence to control crowds etc.—and I think on this side of the House we agreed to it somewhat—there would be an element of charging out by police. There was extra expense for providing extra policing at those types of events and therefore some cost recovery would be necessary. Under that guise the Labour Party supported this piece of legislation to the Law and Order Committee.Unbeknownst to us it was not the likes of event promoters and sporting promoters who were going to be targeted. Under the legislation as it stands it is the likes of community organisations—charities and organisations within our communities like schools and early childhood education providers—that will now have to bear the brunt of the cost of the police vetting. The argument is that it is a demand service and there is a private benefit to those organisations that the people who work with them are police-vetted. I would argue that there is a general public benefit for making sure that the people who work in those positions within those organisations are good people and safe people as they work with some of our most vulnerable citizens. The other point I want to make about this piece of legislation is I think we are working on it with old information that does not necessarily tell the picture as it is. The regulatory impact statement which I believe was authored in October 2013 quotes figures that the Government is still using now as a basis for the overall cost of the vetting service. I will just double-check this and get it right. Yes—back in October 2013 the police said that the vetting service cost to the police was $2.2 million which in the big scheme of things I think that the taxpayer can wear. At that stage the proposed fee for a police vetting check was I understand $5. That is where they came up with the figure of $2.2 million because apparently back in October 2013 there were half a million police vetting checks processed every year. Also in that document from back in October 2013 it says: The total cost of providing the vetting service is likely to increase over time due to demand for the service and the operational costs of the service provision." In English it is saying there is going to be more demand—more than half a million—and therefore the price of the vetting service will have to increase. At the Committee stage of this piece of legislation I said to the Minister of Police who was in the chair that back in 2014 the nominal fee was $5 and that the regulatory impact statement said that things might change. I said that it has been 3 years since this regulatory impact statement was produced and I asked whether the Government had any new figures on what the cost to the end-user will be. We have been waiting for some time for the potential impact. It makes a big difference when we are talking about half a million and potentially more police-vetting checks over a year period. Then we got the new figure which we have never heard before of $8.50. So for at least 12 months we have been wanting to know exactly what the impost would be for the likes of charities and schools in our communities—what they were going to be charged for these police vetting checks. For a long time—2 or 3 years now—they have been working on the assumption of $5 but after a simple question to the Minister all of sudden we came up with a figure of $8.50 which obviously is going to increase the charge or the cost to the likes of those schools and those charities and those organisations. So we have got the $8.50 charge which has gone up considerably from $5. We have also got the figure of half a million vettings which this has all been based on and I still do not think we have got an accurate figure from the Government about how many vetting checks are being done. If it was half a million back in October 2013 and the Government's own regulatory impact statement says that demand is going to increase what is the number? Has it gone from half a million to three-quarters of a million? It does matter if your price has gone up by $3.50 from the figure that was first mooted. By my maths if we are basing it on half a million vetting checks—which is the old figure—and the new figure of $8.50 up from $5 the police cost for the vetting service has gone from $2.2 million per year in October 2013 to $4.25 million in October 2016 which has meant that the cost of police-vetting checks has almost doubled in the time since this piece of legislation was first mooted and the problem was looked at—to now. That I think is of major concern for those people out there who are paying for these police-vetting checks. The likes of schools may have to go through quite a few police vetting checks every year and an increase of $3.50 might not sound like a lot to the Government but $8.50 over quite a few checks—and we have got that number of half a million—is quite a lot of money to the people out in the community.Let us not forget what this is really about. It is about community organisations trying to do good in their communities not the likes of sports promoters or concert promoters as was first mooted at the very outset of this piece of legislation. I think this has spluttered through Parliament. The information that it is all based on is patchy at best because we have been operating on $5 for 3 years and then all of a sudden it is $8.50. We have been operating on half a million so perhaps someone on the Government benches—in the 5-minute call that they will take on this piece of legislation which they are obviously very proud of—will tell us exactly what the figures are how much revenue they are bringing in because of this and whether that does cover the costs or whether they are making a little bit extra on the side. I do not know what is going on within the police vetting system if the costs have doubled in the last 3 years. Have the volumes increased that much? Have they really increased from half a million to—what? What has an increase in price meant from $5 back in 2013 to now when it has gone to $8.50? It is taking money out of the likes of early childhood centres it is taking money out of the likes of schools and it is taking money out of the likes of people who are working with the most vulnerable people in our community. I am not saying this work should not be done. I think police should in some cases try to look to recover costs from people but not necessarily these kinds of organisations in our community.I would really appreciate it if someone on the other side of the House updated us with the best information that they have got. How many police-vetting checks are happening now? That half a million number that they were spouting about back in 2013 must have gone up because the Government's own regulatory impact statement back then said the demand would increase. How long will $8.50 for a police vetting check stay at $8.50? My colleague Poto Williams has been very concerned about the price rising to the likes of $50 which it has got to in Australia and I think with the price increase that we have seen in a short time from $5 to $8.50 that is a valid concern to have. Could someone from the other side of the House tell us exactly what the situation is how much money they are bringing in and how many police vetting checks there will be in the next 2 to 3 years so that we can get an idea of what is going on here? I think that charities organisations and the likes of schools in our communities would quite like to know what they are up for to make sure that the people in their organisations are safe people to work within them."