Bishop Chris; Salesa JennyCHRIS BISHOP (National): Oh thank you very much Madam Speaker and I want to say thank you to you for your chairmanship but I also want to say thank you to colleagues across the House for their support of this bill. It's a good thing to see and I'm sure the Justice Committee will do a good job of considering it.I didn't take this opportunity in my first five-minute call to explain the origins of the bill because I was conscious that we had the maiden speeches coming up and I wanted to get through the five minutes. But one of the things I said to myself that I would do when I became an MP is I would take every opportunity to try and change the law for the better. I've got this quite serious view that we're here to try and improve public policy. When I first became an MP I was a list MP in Government and I'm not being too pejorative or cynical but for those list MPs who are now in Government you may find that there are limited opportunities particularly in a large caucus to display your wares so to speak. So I said to myself Well I'll go off and try and find some things to make myself useful and try and change the law." And the first thing I did was I inherited a bill from Michael Woodhouse around organ donation and that got passed and then I drafted another bill around an amendment to the Films Videos and Publications Classification Act and that got passed. So I've just kind of made it a little mission of mine to try and find small but significant changes to the law that can be advanced through a member's bill process because Parliament is here to make law and change the law for the better.And this came about because I was on holiday in Mexico lying on the beach reading the Law Society—Dr Duncan Webb: No no! The horror!CHRIS BISHOP: I know. Duncan Webb's thinking "What a sad man." It was New Year's—it wasn't actually New Year's but it was close to that and I was in Mexico and I was reading LawTalk which is the New Zealand Law Society's weekly magazine and there was an article by a guy called John McLean who was the general counsel for Rabobank. And he'd encouraged the Law Society to make this change on their own volition and the Law Society was pretty reluctant to do so. And he'd written an article for LawTalk basically excoriating the Law Society saying we should make this change. And I read it and thought "Well that just doesn't make any sense. Why is it the case that an employed lawyer cannot do pro bono work outside their job without the permission of their employer?" That doesn't make any sense. So I thought "Well that's a perfect little member's bill." And as you can see it's a six-clause member's bill. And we chucked it into the ballot it got pulled and now it's going to be considered by the Justice Committee.I want to pick up on a couple of points that were made in the debate. The first is in relation to Dr Webb's suggestion around mandating the Law Society make rules: I think that's a sensible suggestion. It's certainly something that can be considered in committee. The last thing we want to do is change the law and then have the Law Society sit on the necessary regulatory mechanisms to make the law work. So I agree that that's a good idea. In relation to insurance my suggestion is that employed lawyers should simply be required to essentially describe what professional indemnity insurance they have and I think that can be covered off.In relation to the point around the community law centres which members opposite in particular have raised I note that and I agree with you. They do a fantastic job in the community. It's worth noting that I've had a brief conversation with Sue Moroney who will be well known to members opposite who is I believe the chief executive of Community Law Centres o Aotearoa. I ran into her as often happens in this place in the Beehive foyer. And she said "Oh I need to come talk to you about your bill. We're pretty supportive of it"—I hope I'm not misquoting her—"but we're keen to come and have a yarn about how exactly it will all work." So I strongly suspect they will be making a submission to the committee and I encourage Sue to do that. Fair to say Sue and I didn't see eye to eye when she was an MP and I was an MP. I think we overlapped by only three years. We didn't get on so well but as often happens you tend to get on better with former MPs in this place when they've left the Chamber. So I welcome Sue's contribution at the select committee process.So look I think this is a sensible change. As I noted in my first comments many people are surprised to discover it's not already the law. I welcome members' comments around access to justice and improving the rule of law. I think it is a sensible change. I look forward to working with the select committee to try and shepherd it through the House in the months to come. Thank you.Motion agreed to.Bill read a first time.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The question is That the Lawyers and Conveyancers (Employed Lawyers Providing Free Legal Services) Amendment Bill be considered by the Justice Committee.Motion agreed to.Bill referred to the Justice Committee."