Belich CamillaCAMILLA BELICH (Labour): Tēnā koe Madam Speaker. I'm pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this inquiry conducted by the Education and Workforce Committee of which I am the deputy chair. Like other speakers the first thing I wanted to do was to acknowledge the friends and family of Mason Pendrous and acknowledge the tragic circumstances of his passing. I hope no other family has to suffer in this way and it was good to hear the changes implemented by the University of Canterbury as mentioned by my colleague Sarah Pallett.This inquiry is particularly important to me as a former student representative. Last year I spoke to the conference of the New Zealand Union of Students' Associations and one of the key issues for the student representatives there was this inquiry and its progress. Most if not all of the associations present at that conference had submitters to this inquiry and they were keen to see changes made for the benefit of students and their families. I hope that the findings and changes as a result of this inquiry start to address the needs that they had identified.I thought in this short call I would just go through some of the key recommendations made by this inquiry. I'm not sure if I've heard other speakers go through all of them so for the benefit of the House I thought that would be a good use of this time. The first recommendation was to improve transparency of providers in line with the requirements in the pastoral care provisions that cover international students. This is a key theme of this inquiry. It is to align the pastoral care that exists for international students with the care that exists for domestic students and I think that this is a very apt thing to do and will mean that the care that all students receive is more aligned.Another key theme and recommendation was increasing the student voice in providers' decision-making and this has been mentioned by a number of speakers most recently my colleague Rachel Brooking. I think that this is a requirement that currently does also apply to international students. So as a former student representative I have often thought about the value of student input into student affairs and student representation into the needs of students and obviously I support that recommendation.It also looked at and recommended stronger protection for the rights of students. The committee recognised the inherent power imbalance between students and accommodation providers. These issues were in turn highlighted by the COVID-19 lockdowns with students submitting that it was hard to get providers to engage respond and resolve problems. Students were unsure of their rights especially in relation to key provisions like terminations of tenancy so the committee has recommended clear rights and obligations and robust dispute resolution systems to address this.The fourth recommendation is similar to the third. It recommended raising the standard of the internal dispute resolution systems that providers have themselves to greater align with the code that currently applies to international students—so not exactly the same point but looking at those internal processes and making sure that they align—which I think will definitely be something that would improve the experience for students and providers.The fifth recommendation that the committee looked at also concerned dispute resolution and suggested strengthening the connection between providers' internal complaints procedures the New Zealand Qualifications Authority complaints process and the proposed new separate dispute resolution process that would exist for providers and students using this accommodation. I think this is a sensible recommendation that would provide greater clarity and consistency for the students that are using the accommodation.The sixth recommendation suggests further alignment again between the international and domestic code and the last—seventh—recommendation focused on residential assistants (RAs) the people that support students within that accommodation. It suggested training be provided to all RAs. Many in this House may remember when RAs were simply students who had gone through the accommodation the year before and often did an excellent job of pastoral care despite sometimes the lack of training and support. Submitters also notably asked the committee to prioritise the health and wellbeing of students and look at disaster preparedness and I hope this is considered when the Government responds to this inquiry.So in conclusion we look forward to the Government's response to this inquiry and the proposed pastoral care code and proposed dispute resolution scheme and hope that when this is put in place it results in an all-round safer secure experience for tauira and their whānau.Motion agreed to.Report noted.