Parmar ParmjeetDr PARMJEET PARMAR (National): Thank you Mr Speaker. I would like to start by saying that our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone that has been affected due to the White Island volcano.I'm taking this call to support this legislation. As the chair of the Education and Workforce Committee I want to say that it was really great to see the whole committee—this is both sides Government and Opposition—working in such a collaborative manner on this legislation. So I want to thank all members on the committee. I also want to acknowledge all submitters. We received 22 submissions during the select committee process and we heard from 11—actually 11 plus one. I say plus one" because we also requested the Privacy Commissioner to appear before the select committee to address some concerns that members had.We wanted to make sure that this legislation will do exactly what we think it will. We know that this legislation was introduced after that unfortunate incident at Canterbury University and our thoughts also go to his family. We just wanted to make sure that this legislation will actually provide that intention of providing or ensuring the wellbeing of all domestic tertiary students living in tertiary accommodations. We wanted to balance this legislation for privacy safety and then the third factor was the accountability for providers. So there were several questions that we had in the select committee process because yes we want to make sure that they are fine and their wellbeing is looked after but we also wanted to make sure that their privacy is maintained. So it was really good to hear from the Privacy Commissioner.One thing that is good to know is that this legislation does not override the Privacy Act and also the other thing for us that we learnt and is important for us to know is that providers can set up their own privacy policy. In that privacy policy it will be important for them to disclose what kind of information will be collected and who that information will be disclosed to if they intend to disclose that information.As the Minister of Education and our spokesperson Dr Shane Reti have already talked about the changes that the select committee made to this legislation I won't add too much to that but I just want to add that the requirement of the Minister to consult with various stakeholders was a very important change that we made in the select committee process. Before issuing a code we believe it's really important that the Minister consults with students their families these education providers or accommodation providers and their staff and also consults with the Privacy Commissioner because that assured us that everything that we were concerned about—that is the privacy and safety the balance between privacy and safety—will be taken care of.We also have changed in the legislation that this legislation will allow the Minister to provide for a framework that would include for both domestic tertiary students and international tertiary students the code of practice that is needed for their pastoral care. When we talk about pastoral care all of a sudden international students come to mind and we understand why that special attention is needed for pastoral care for international students because of those societal and cultural differences and sometimes even language barriers that international students experience. We want to make sure that when we have international students here in New Zealand they get the best experience gaining their tertiary education here in New Zealand. But we are also aware now that domestic tertiary students' pastoral care is also important. So this legislation we believe will provide for that.Balancing the privacy with safety with checks required for safety of a student entry to their room or their sleeping area would be required. So we wanted to make sure that students' privacy is taken care of and that's why we introduced a 24-hour notice requirement. But we clearly say that this requirement is there unless this is not reasonable in circumstances. So if it is not possible to get that notice to the student 24 hours prior to inspection or entry if the circumstances don't allow it in those situations the entry could be done without that notice.The other thing we made clear in the select committee process was that the requirement of the student to be present at the time of entry will not be required if a consent has been already obtained from the student to do so in the student's absence. So for me there were three main issues in this legislation as I said: balancing privacy and safety and then the third factor was the accountability of providers. The select committee did a great job of making sure all concerns and wide-ranging views that were expressed by various submitters were taken into consideration and several changes have been made to this legislation. So I support this bill. Thank you Mr Speaker."