Stanford EricaERICA STANFORD (National—East Coast Bays): Thank you Madam Speaker. I'm pleased to rise this evening to speak on what is an important bill that we are supporting this evening the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill. It is nice to rise and speak in support of a bill (a) that's important but (b) that the Parliament as a whole has been working on together and it all agrees on. As a speaker earlier said it's not something that we've always agreed on and come together on and worked on and it is nice that in this case we have come together we've agreed and we've worked cross-party—and for a number of reasons I'll talk about later in my speech—because mental health no matter where you're from where you live in New Zealand touches everybody. I've had some recent experiences in my electorate that I'll share with you in my short call. A lot of what's been said tonight has covered what the bill is all about so I won't go into that in too much detail. But you know we understand that basically all this bill is doing is setting up an independent Crown entity which will advise Governments around mental health and wellbeing. Obviously the aim of that is to improve the mental health and wellbeing of New Zealanders and in particular those who are most marginalised when it comes to mental health wellbeing: so Māori and Pasifika our disability sector our rainbow community and others who experience poor mental health outcomes. The commission will be between two and five members and will be in place in 2021. We support the establishment of this mental health commission. They are a body of independent experts who will advise the Government of the day but it is part of what is a much larger puzzle which will lead to the improvement of the mental health and wellbeing of New Zealanders. The commission will report publicly they'll make recommendations and they'll have the power to obtain information from Government departments and statutory Crown entities. As I said we support the establishment of this commission. It is important that we worked in a cross-party fashion to come to this point and it's important that we continue to work in a cross-party way when it comes to mental health outcomes for New Zealanders. There are a few other points I would like to make though. Firstly they are around the mental health and addictions inquiry. While this was a worthwhile exercise a good democratic process to take part in for many New Zealanders who got to have their say and their input what we had for two years from this Government while that inquiry was under way was inaction and potentially for another couple of years inaction with no real action. Speakers before me have mentioned this tonight because while we waited for that report to come out actual mental health investment in mental health outcomes for New Zealanders was lacking. That part of the puzzle was missing. So instead of acting and investing this Government canned 17 National Party initiatives that were tied to a $100 million social investment package. Now these initiatives would have increased access to services which is so vital; improved responses; and provided more wraparound services. So while we all waited for a working group to report back actual programmes and actual services and actual funding that would have made a difference were missing. And that is wasted time where we could have been helping New Zealanders who were so desperately in need of help. We know that mental health outcomes in this country are getting worse. Suicide statistics that have been reported recently showed 685 people dying in the year to July which is a rise of 2.5 percent. In my electorate I see the surge of mental health cases through my electorate door. I've worked in that electorate office for almost six seven years; I have never seen the amount of mental health cases as I have in the last year or so. I hear it from the police in my district who are telling me that they are overwhelmed with mental health cases and that a large majority of the events that they are turning up to are mental health - related. And now I'm hearing it from my local principals—and this is the heartbreaking stuff—who now cite it as their number one issue that they're dealing with. I have principals who are now employing multiple full-time mental health workers to deal with the explosion of extremely serious cases they simply are not equipped to deal with and the ministry are not funding them.These are kids in the East Coast Bays. They are in decile 10 schools in relatively well-off areas. And my schools are lucky in that they can afford to hire in some cases these mental health support workers. And when I see my principals and hear their stories it is so upsetting to sit there knowing that one of the 17 National Government initiatives that was scrapped was around increased mental health provision in schools. And now I have got intermediate schools in my electorate decile 10 schools with up to 35 kids on self-harm watch lists and kids who are self-harming in class and that is unacceptable. This could have made such a huge difference if we'd acted earlier. The scale of the problem is overwhelming and it's upsetting. While this bill is a part of the puzzle it is only one part. And while we support another advisory committee the message to this Government is loud and it is clear and it is not just from me; it is from my police and it is from my principals: the mental health of New Zealanders is getting worse and real action is required not in two years but now. Thank you.