Bennett GlenGLEN BENNETT (Labour—New Plymouth): Kia ora Madam Speaker. I rise to take a call in support of the Human Rights (Disability Assist Dogs Non-Discrimination) Amendment Bill. We are living in strange times and Zoom is obviously a regular part of our lives and I actually had a real panic 15 minutes or so ago when I couldn't see him. I'd been in a meeting this morning with the Social Services and Community Committee with Ricardo Menéndez March and he wasn't in the Chamber and I was panicking—where was he? But of course he's in Auckland so our respect and our aroha goes out to you there in Auckland and to all the Aucklanders. So thank you very much to Jan Logie for hosting us this afternoon and for walking us through this bill which is very simple but it's really meaningful. I also want to say thank you to Mojo Mathers who we've already mentioned who originally brought this to the House back in 2015. This bill as has already been said is around building a more inclusive and a more accessible society for all people. It's ensuring that people with a disability have the same rights and have the same opportunities as all New Zealanders. It's around removing stigma. It's around removing prejudice as we've heard about and it's around normalising disability so that it's just a part of everyday life. In fact one in four New Zealanders has some kind of disability. This bill is simple and they're often the best. It's a really simple piece of legislation and it does just two things. Obviously as we've heard it removes the words guide dog" and changes that to "disability assist dog". Now this is really basic but obviously it makes quite a difference because when this was first brought to the House when this legislation was first formed obviously guide dogs were the main disability-use animal that was used back then. But now it's extended in many ways and spaces and we've heard already around supporting people with different disabilities: those who have hearing impairments medical conditions mobility issues epilepsy and the list goes on. So this piece of legislation just ensures that disability assist dogs are in the Human Rights Act right there for them. Now this fits in for me personally but also for us as the Labour Party in our values around protecting the rights of our disabled New Zealanders ensuring that all New Zealanders in our disability community live free from discrimination. I have a good friend in my electorate of New Plymouth—Hon Member: Really? GLEN BENNETT: —I do I have several actually; not just my husband—and he was the editor of the Taranaki Daily News. He was on the district council and for a long time he has headed up the Disability Action group for New Plymouth ensuring that New Plymouth is a disability-friendly city. Now Lance Girling-Butcher—and this story is around a dog for a person who is blind or low-vision—has told his story around how he did struggle early on when he got Yogi his beautiful Labrador and people didn't quite cope with this at times. But then slowly over the last 10 years or so it became far more normal to see Yogi sitting around the council table to see Yogi in meetings and to see Yogi on Air New Zealand flights to the point that when I was in a taxi going to the airport several months ago and the taxi driver was chatting away and discovered I was from New Plymouth he said "Oh I know a guy from New Plymouth. There was a guy who used to come here and he used to bring his dog." I was like "A dog in the car?" but of course this was Yogi and he'd been in the very taxi I'd been in. So we're in a place and no doubt the Hon Carmel Sepuloni the Minister for Disability Issues supports us and supports all people. So I'm really excited as the deputy chair of the Social Services and Community Committee to be able to take this bill on to the select committee process to take it on for submissions and to ensure that all people are valued and all people are respected and that disability assist dogs are a normal part of our society."