Macindoe TimHon TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West): Talofa lava Mr Speaker. Namaste to those who are visiting Parliament today for our Everest Day celebrations and in particular magandang gabi to the very large number of visitors who are here.May I say how honoured I am to have such a large audience to hear my thoughts on the Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlements Amendment Bill. I hope that I will be able to do justice to your confidence in visiting the country for that. Of course we only have a few minutes until a much more significant event and I have already in a previous speech this afternoon acknowledged my very fine new colleague Paolo Garcia but I do welcome those who have made the trip down here. This is a very historic day not only because of this bill—and I'll return to that in a moment—but in particular because it is well past time that New Zealand had a Filipino member of Parliament and I am delighted that that has come to pass. I want to thank all Filipinos throughout the country for the outstanding contribution you make to our communities.In particular it is relevant that we are talking about this bill because many Filipinos in my own city of Hamilton are represented in the care and support workers industries that are recognised by this particular bill so I thank them all very much for that but of course I thank all who are represented in those communities and in those workforces because the work that they do is deeply valued and I acknowledge is often pretty unattractive. It hasn't had at all times the support it should have done. I was disappointed in the churlish contribution of the previous speaker Marja Lubeck who failed to acknowledge that it was the National Government who brought in the primary legislation following the Terranova settlement. It is therefore I think appropriate to acknowledge that this bill builds on that important settlement and it would also have been nice if that previous speaker had acknowledged that the National Party is supporting this measure as we move to close the loophole that has been identified by previous speakers.Now I think the other thing that would be well worth doing is just to acknowledge that it was an historic settlement. It was valued at $2 billion. That was no mean feat to give it legislative effect and to ensure that the Budget was able to accommodate the significant change that that required. It recognised the work carried out by 55000 workers in our aged and disability residential care and home community support services across the country. I am sorry that the members opposite can't acknowledge that fact that that happened under the National Party because those sorts of things can't just happen overnight. They are hugely important—Hon Ruth Dyson: Nine years.Hon TIM MACINDOE: —considerations for any Minister of Finance to take into account. To the member who's just called out nine years" I'd point out that actually you could say it goes back much further than that as well. She needs to remember the economic circumstances that the National Party faced when we came into office. It would not have been possible to have moved much faster than we did but when we had the ability to do so we did and I'm very delighted to say that we achieved that.I am conscious of the fact that there are many in the gallery—in fact far more than I think came to attend my own maiden speech. I can reflect possibly on the reasons for that but those who were here on the occasion will recall that my maiden speech took a rather long time. So Paolo I hope that—because I believe the Speaker will interrupt me in a few moments from now—you manage to keep your time-keeping under better account. In fact I do acknowledge it was the Speaker who came to my rescue on that particular occasion and if I've never said thank you to him before I wish to say thank you to him now.Let me finish as I commenced by saying this is an historic day for several reasons. It is the day that we mark Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay's historic feat at Mount Everest. It is the day that we mark the introduction of this significant piece of legislation. It is the day that New Zealand celebrates the first—but I'm sure not the last—Filipino MP to come to our Parliament. What a fine man he is. I know that he is well supported by Ambassador Jesus (Gary) Domingo who I believe is probably with us. I also believe that his excellent predecessor Virginia Benavidez is also with us. Welcome to them both. Thank you so much—lovely to see you. I shall not detain the House any further. I'm delighted to be part of this historic occasion and I wish my new colleague and all his supporters all the very best."