Doocey Matt: Public Collections and Solicitations (Disclosure of Payment) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDoocey Matt: Public Collections and Solicitations (Disclosure of Payment) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 12 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5766. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MATT DOOCEY (National—Waimakariri): I move That the Public Collections and Solicitations (Disclosure of Payment) Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Social Services Committee to consider the bill.New Zealanders are amongst the most generous people in the world per head of population. In 2010 New Zealanders donated just under $1 billion while in 2014 this increased by 25 percent to just under $1.25 billion. The median amount of money New Zealanders donate now sits at around $40 per person per month. This is the highest amount of charitable donations since the Canterbury earthquakes when 46 percent of the population made a donation to charity. Generally around 41 percent of the population donates to a worthy cause.It is important that New Zealanders know that the donations they provide to those in need are going to legitimate charities and are aware of just how much of their donation reaches those it is intended to help. Statistics show that my electorate of Waimakariri has 6207 registered volunteers—this being 14 percent of the Waimakariri’s population. My region of Canterbury has not only 2500 registered charities but over 52000 volunteers who contribute over 239 hours per week to the community. This can be compared nationally with New Zealand having just under 470000 volunteers or 15.5 percent of the country’s population. It is no surprise then that—[Interruption]The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! I am sorry to interrupt the member but I would request my colleague Stuart Nash to be seated when he is talking to someone like that. It is very rude.MATT DOOCEY: It is no surprise then that New Zealand is ranked in the top five most charitable countries in the world since 2010 on the World Giving Index.The aim of this bill is to require that any person collecting donations subscriptions signatures or other support for an organisation or cause in a public street or place must disclose the existence of payment or remuneration for performing that collection or solicitation in order to ensure that members of the public are informed whether a public collector or solicitor is being paid to solicit or collect donations signatures or other support. The bill provides that anyone who is collecting donations signatures or other support for an organisation in any public place and is receiving payment or any other remuneration for engaging in such activity must disclose the existence of this payment or remuneration to relevant members of the public.However the bill also provides that where the organisation or cause is a registered charity disclosure is not required to be made. The bill provides that disclosure may be made orally or in writing and must be made to each member of the public who is solicited or from whom a collection is taken. The disclosure must be made before any collection occurs and must include a statement that the person collecting support is receiving payment or other remuneration from whichever person or organisation is providing the payment or remuneration.I believe that most people want to know whether a public collector is a volunteer or is being paid to collect donations or signatures. This bill will guarantee that transparency. The bill will require anybody collecting donations subscriptions signatures or other support in a public arena to disclose whether they are being paid or remunerated for their service. In the case of donations for a charity this bill will help people to be confident that the charity will actually be getting all of the money they are donating.This bill will bring us into line with the United States Australia and the United Kingdom which already have transparency measures in place regarding public collections. Kiwis have a true spirit of voluntarism but in recent years there appear to be more people who are paid for collecting whether it be for signatures or donations. This is a change in culture for us. I believe that the public has a right to be informed about where donations are going. The bill aims to bring transparency to public collectors who are paid to collect donations or signatures. This is to ensure that members of the public are fully informed when signing paying or donating to any cause.New Zealand has a great culture of voluntarism. New Zealand has a mixed economy of care that consists of private Government and community provision of care. I value the contribution the voluntary sector makes to the well-being and care of New Zealanders. I believe in big communities. The work our volunteers do makes New Zealand a better place. On average there are just over 400000 Kiwis volunteering every week for a charity adding up to over 1.5 million hours contributed to our communities. New Zealanders are traditionally good at volunteering. We are amongst the very best in the world.When there was a great need in Canterbury after the earthquakes lots of people especially the young inspired all of us with their commitment and endurance in helping others. As an example the town of Kaiapoi in my electorate was hardest hit by the September 2010 earthquake. In the days immediately following the 4 September earthquake the Student Volunteer Army was a visible force on the streets of Kaiapoi. It started with a Facebook event and resulted in thousands of student volunteers car pooling out to the Waimakariri baking food for the affected residents and cleaning up liquefaction left on the streets and in people’s gardens. This example of voluntarism soon grew up to over 2500 volunteers contributing to the clean-up and now the Student Volunteer Army is seen around the world as a model of best practice for how to make a difference in your community.The bill seeks to achieve its objectives by requiring that any person collecting donations or support for an organisation—except for registered charities—in a public place must disclose the existence of any form of payment and by requiring that the disclosure must be made orally or in writing to each member of the public who is solicited or from whom a collection is taken before any collection occurs. The bill contains a strict liability infringement offence for collectors failing to disclose payment or remuneration information as required under the bill. The penalty is a maximum fine of $1000. Infringement offences do not carry the possibility of conviction.The bill provides that where a police officer observes a person committing an infringement offence or has reasonable cause to believe that such an offence is being or has just been committed by the person the police officer may issue an infringement notice in respect of that offence. The bill builds on the Fair Trading (Soliciting on Behalf of Charities) Amendment Bill. That bill amends the Fair Trading Act 1986 and imposes a requirement on professional fundraisers acting on behalf of charities that retain more than half the money collected in fees to disclose the percentage retained. The Charities Commission reported regularly receiving complaints relating to third-party collectors and noted a rising awareness in the media of the use of third-party contractors.To conclude I received an email of support recently from Tony Duncan the chief executive of the Heart Foundation. Mr Duncan told me that the Heart Foundation is generally supportive of this bill as like many charities it relies on the generosity of donors and it is hearing more regularly that donors are intimidated into donating by some of the aggressive sales tactics being employed by commission-based sales staff. For example in the past 18 months the Heart Foundation has had more than 20 complaints from another organisation’s donors who thought they had been donating to the Heart Foundation. The Heart Foundation passed these complaints on but the damage is already done. This charity believes that if the public knows where their donation is actually going and that those collecting are genuinely engaged in the charity and are not being paid per sign-up it will only encourage more generosity and more engagement. If there is more transparency it will help the sector.New Zealanders are amongst the most generous people in the world per head of population. I believe that most people want to know whether a public collector is a volunteer or is being paid to collect donations or signatures. This bill will guarantee that transparency. This is to ensure that members of the public are fully informed when signing paying or donating to any cause. I commend this bill to the House. Thank you.