Menéndez March RicardoHUMAN RIGHTS (DISABILITY ASSIST DOGS NON-DISCRIMINATION) AMENDMENT BILLThird ReadingRICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH (Green): I move That the Human Rights (Disability Assist Dogs Non-Discrimination) Amendment Bill be now read a third time. Kia ora. It's such a pleasure to be in this final stage of this member's bill. Before I go on to the many thanks and recognitions of the people who have contributed to getting us here I'd like to once again just briefly touch on the whakapapa of this bill as we've done in other readings. I particularly want to acknowledge the submission which I did in the second reading of Deaf Action New Zealand who traversed over the history and their own contribution actually of working with former MPs to get this legislation drafted. This bill's history goes back to 2015 when Murray Whittington and his dog Frodo were facing barriers to access adequate housing. The late Murray worked with Deaf Action to write to the Ministry of Social Development to see what could be done to resolve this issue. They also worked with Mojo Mathers former Green MP and a champion of the rights of disabled people to draft a member's bill which she did back then and now I've had the privilege to carry. So I thank the efforts of those people in that organisation and Mojo Mathers for paving the way for this bill to now almost become law. The bill seeks to amend the Human Rights Act to make it really clear that discriminating against disability assist dogs is discrimination towards disabled people. We have heard aplenty throughout the process of the discrimination that disabled people face in society. The Disabled Persons Assembly very well noted that discrimination towards disabled people was a lot higher than against those that were able-bodied. I think this to me speaks of the many challenges that we need to yet overcome that disabled people face. This bill I hope will address some of that discrimination and I hope as well that it's a call to action for our Parliament to do far more to create a truly inclusive society. I'd like to thank the submitters particularly those with lived experience who presented to Parliament and who were really clear about the challenges they faced and the organisations who train the disability assist dogs who like many reminded us that these dogs are not pets. They're work dogs who receive extensive training and who are disciplined enough to be able to support people to enter and work in public spaces who also support people with health conditions to alert them when they may be about to have a seizure or help them note when a fire alarm may be going off. I also would like to thank the members of the Social Services and Community Committee because throughout the process one of the lessons we took was the opportunities that were there to make this space far more accessible. I want to thank all members of that committee for having had such an open-minded approach and consultative approach to taking steps to make the process far more accessible. I genuinely hope that the approaches that we took are taken by other committees because I think it does not need to be just about legislation that very explicitly impacts disabled people. I think we should be making all of our processes as accessible as possible and I think the committee has done some really important work in allowing this to happen. I also would like to thank the other parties for their continued support throughout the stages of the bill. I'm just so rapt that this bill has had so far support from all political parties and I think this is a testament that we are in agreement that we must build a more inclusive society. I hope that that cross-party support that the bill has received so far is carried through other bits of legislation that seek to create a more just society. I also wanted to address some of the feedback that we received not just from submitters but the broader community around the need to run a communications campaign once this bill becomes law. Some of the strong feedback that we received throughout the whole of the process was that there was a need for the broader public to be far more aware of the rights of disabled people. While this bill will enable people to go through the Human Rights Commission processes to address discrimination ideally we would want people to know of other people's rights so that people don't have to go through the human rights complaints process to address injustices when they happen. So I do call on Government to look at putting in some resources to run a communications campaign so that this bill has as strong an effect as possible. There are also thanks that I would like to give specifically to members of the Opposition for their contributions. Penny Simmonds who gave a constructive Supplementary Order Paper (SOP)—and while I would have loved to have had more time to have debated the SOP through the select committee process I still welcome those interventions to improve bills wherever possible. I really again look forward to broader reforms to ensure that the way in which dogs are trained enables people to access the services of these dogs in a way that it is just but also that ensures that dogs get trained in a way that also guarantees safety and discipline. I think these are conversations that we'll continue to have. I know that the dynamics within organisations and the people who use their services needs to be continuously explored and I think the Penny Simmonds SOP wanted to address some of those dynamics. I also want to thank the New Zealand Sign Language interpreters who have been with us through most of the process. Again I think that the need for proper interpretation in these processes doesn't have to be restrained to bills that very explicitly talk about the rights of disabled people and I note that there are still barriers both in terms of resourcing and in terms of access to interpreters that prevent Parliament having a completely accessible process. In that sense I also thank the Business Committee for being really open and negotiating the times in which we have had this bill going through. It's been great to have an openness in ensuring that we were able to have this bill discussed in this lot to ensure interpretation. I encourage members to be mindful that interpreters may find it difficult to continue doing it after the dinner break so I encourage people to give calls that ensure that we're able to have full interpretation through the passage of the third reading. I acknowledge that this bill is a really important reform but there is so much more work to do. While we may be addressing areas in the Human Rights Act and gaps that existed there I think there is still a need for accessible housing. I mean while we are seeking to end discrimination I can't ignore that the reality is that so much of our housing remains inaccessible for disabled people and that there are many other areas in our legislation that continue to provide inadequate support. So again I think this bill should hopefully pave the way for broader reform. I know I extended my thanks to Mojo at the beginning but I just want to make a special mention as well for her constant guidance and our exchanges throughout the passage of this bill to ensure that the intent that she had when she drafted this bill was carried through. She gave an amazing submission. I also note that this is the second bill that Mojo Mathers drafted that is now becoming law since she stopped being a member of Parliament and I think that just speaks to her amazing contributions and work to identify areas that needed reform that would make for a member's bill that would actually end up garnering the support of members across the House.So I look forward to this bill becoming law to a communications campaign and to the work that needs to be done to create a truly inclusive society. Kia ora.