Tuiono TeanauTEANAU TUIONO (Green): Kia orana 谢谢 [Thank you] and talofa Madam Speaker. Pasifika workers who come to Aotearoa to work deserve to have a warm place to live safe working conditions and good pay. Migrant workers and Pasifika workers come here with dreams. They are not just economic units to plug into the capitalist matrix; they come here with dreams. That's how many of our families got here. That's how my family got here and that's how many of the families of members around the House got here as well. They come here with dreams and aspirations for better work and better jobs and education opportunities for their children. But no matter where they come from or why they travel to Aotearoa for work the very least that we can do—this Parliament and the Government—is guarantee everyone who comes here is paid properly treated fairly and has a safe place to live. The Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme is exploitative. The rules put in place are left unchanged by the current Government and do not guarantee people the same conditions as local workers and other migrant workers. And I get it—there is a review on the cards and it's coming down the track. But here's the thing: that's not until next year and it's too late because that exploitation is happening right now. That exploitation is happening right now. Only this week we heard yet another story about the exploitation of Pasifika peoples travelling to Rotorua for work. Migrant workers housed at a school camp in Rotorua were forced to endure unacceptable living conditions including sharing just two washing machines between more than 160 people. And that's what the inspection reports revealed. Men's and women's quarters were right next to each other despite complaints that female workers felt unsafe. They were too scared to go outside or alone let alone to the toilet blocks at night. Here's a quote from one of the reports that came out of the Official Information Act: I myself would not want to live in such conditions and can only imagine what our workers have to endure." a farmer liaison worker wrote in a complaint to the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment MBIE. The documents also included details of an investigation into a site run by Turners and Growers in Hastings where a complainant said "A horrible stench of shit hits you when you arrive." due to what they believed were overflowing septic tanks. This is unacceptable. This is unacceptable treatment of Pasifika workers. New Zealand has been down this path before. We just apologised last year for the treatment of Pasifika workers and the result of that was the Dawn Raids. We've been here before. We know that this exploitation is happening now so the right thing to do is to speed up that review process. Get it happening now because it's happening now. Earlier this year—because this is not an isolated event—the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Saunoamaali'i Karanina Sumeo travelled to Blenheim to investigate the work and living conditions of Pasifika workers under that same scheme. There she found horticultural workers being housed six people to a room charged 150 bucks a week to sleep in freezing and damp conditions which see them fall sick repeatedly and then refused paid sick leave. That is why this review needs to start now. And we know that because we know that worker exploitation is happening right now as well. This is not new. Attention has been brought to this through the inquiry process and it comes up in the media. And I ask myself "Where is the collective outrage? Where is the collective outrage of what's happening with Pasifika workers? Would this be acceptable if these were white workers? Would it be? Would it be acceptable if these were a bunch of French students working in a ski field? Would it be acceptable?" It would not be. Where is our collective outrage? And that's why it's really important that this review happens now. The scheme needs to be replaced and there needs to be a number of things put into place including independent inspectors of the accommodation. We talk about healthy home standards; what about healthy home standards for the workers? Paid sick leave: if you get sick and you end up in hospital that's expensive. You need to sort out the insurance side of things as well—medical insurance for RSE workers. Workers should also be trained on health and safety standards.We've got a long way to go. Aotearoa is a part of the Pacific. We need to treat our relatives and we need to treat our neighbours with dignity and respect. Thank you Madam Speaker."