Robertson GrantHon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Thank you very much Mr Assistant Speaker. Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the second reading of this bill. In the first reading of this bill I made a speech that really I hope set up for myself and for others the premise behind why we need this legislation. It's been mentioned by a number of other colleagues and I think it's important that we don't lose sight in what now will become a slightly technical debate about elements of the bill of what we're trying to achieve here. What we are doing as other speakers have said is trying to right a vastly unjust wrong that existed in our society for so long.It was interesting to me when reading the submissions that came in on this legislation to the select committee just how many of them came from young people—from people whose life and existence is far removed from that of the men who were convicted under this unjust law. I was struck particularly—and my colleague Darroch Ball has already quoted from this person's submission—by the teenager who submitted to the committee and used this phrase which I think's an extraordinary one: Love used to carry a prison sentence in this very country until 1986." For a teenager to say that so clearly and starkly to this House is to me a validation of a number of things—including our select committee process actually but also of the fact that we have a new generation of young LGBTIQ people coming through who have the most extraordinary vision not only of their own lives but also looking back to the past and I think we need to acknowledge that that happened in the select committee process.I want to talk for the most part in this second reading—as I think we're actually meant to do—about the select committee process and acknowledge the fact that the committee has done some useful things in terms of dealing with the issues that were raised in front of them—the whole question of what an expunged conviction is. The movement from defining a "criminal record" and replacing that with "official record" I think is a step forward because I think that acknowledges that a criminal record could be defined as quite a narrow term. The official record means that we cover a wider set of public records particularly those in line with the Public Records Act and it also makes it more similar to the Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act. I think that will go some way to meeting the concerns of submitters who came to MPs with that.The other matter that I know a number of submitters were concerned about was the question of whether or not the language in the bill was limiting what we are doing here today to New Zealand and that it would in fact not help people who are working or travelling overseas and that we were in fact writing the bill in such a way as to cause difficulty there. I note that the committee is looking at clarifying clause 9 to remove the word "only" from the phrase "for the purposes only of the laws of New Zealand". We do I believe as a Parliament want this expungement to be recognised in overseas jurisdictions. It is only right that we as a Parliament take some responsibility for that. I do of course note that we can't take full responsibility for the laws of other countries but what we can do is ensure that our law facilitates and supports people who have been affected by these unjust convictions when travelling overseas.The other and more far-reaching thing that I think came out from the select committee submissions is the importance of noting that this piece of legislation matters not only for the people who are still alive today who have convictions not only for the families of people who were convicted but also for the wider community and the LGBTIQ community. I think that was starkly drawn out by the submissions that came from organisations that represent youth all the way through to the Law Society and others. We as a Parliament as we pass this legislation have to realise that not only does the weight of history land on our shoulders but also the weight of the future. Time and time again what the submissions here do is call this Parliament to action to continue to make New Zealand a place where people can be who they are—where people are supported to live lives of dignity and hope free from discrimination.Those submissions time and time again raised the issues that still exist in our community. Some of them are legislative particularly for the trans community; some of them are attitudinal for young people expressing still the discrimination that they feel in their communities; and some of them are about the way in which we continue to support people be it the trans community seeking gender surgery or be it health services and social services that are provided. While this particular bill cannot do much about that I think we owe it to the people who submitted to the committee to acknowledge and to recognise the fact that we are on a journey here. It's a journey that this bill takes an important step in but it is not the end of that journey and there were several submissions that went down this path.I do want to make a special reference to someone who is known to me I should say Ted Greensmith-West who in his submission—I think very eloquently—talked about the issues that are in front of us today. I just want to quote briefly from the end of his submission: "Everything that I do in my life is to ensure that those LGBT kids coming through the system today do not have to experience the same struggles that I did growing up in New Zealand. These are exactly the same goals of those brave men who fought for decriminalisation in the 1980s and of those who suffered in silence for decades … We have a long journey before us in order to achieve true equity and equality for LGBT New Zealanders." Ted's writing to the committee here: "I invite each and every member of the select committee to join me and the hundreds of other LGBT New Zealanders in that journey. We need you."Parliament needs to hear the call of those in our community who are saying they still need us. This is an important step. This is a useful and important piece of legislation that will mean an enormous amount to the people who carry the shame and the stigma still today of the convictions that they got. We must make sure as we move through the remaining stages of the bill that we make the bill as clear as possible—and I believe the select committee changes do that and that is what we will be doing today for them and for their families—and then we must redouble our efforts to make sure that as a Parliament we do everything we can to support the young people not only those who submitted but those who are still working their way through their own journey.I won't delay the House much longer on this matter other than to say I'm very pleased that the legislation has found its way to this stage. There is an important issue that needs to be acknowledged in my final area and that is the call for compensation. We need to acknowledge that members of our community have come to the select committee and asked for this. We also need to acknowledge that this is an issue where there are divided opinions about compensation. I hope as we move through the committee of the whole House stage members of the committee will talk through the way they came to their decision about this. It is not an easy topic but it is important that we give honour to those who submitted on this matter and the people that they represent.I continue to believe there are a number of ways available to the Government and to this Parliament to think about how we honour the men who were so unjustly convicted the men whose lives were ruined and the men whose lives were ended by this. There are a number of ways forward for this Parliament and this country. I want that dialogue to continue. I think it's very important that we do that as part of this bill process.I want to end my contribution by acknowledging every single person who made a submission to the select committee the people that they represent and the committee members themselves. This is our democracy working well; it is also a lesson and a story for us to continue to hear in the years to come."