Prime Willow-JeanWILLOW-JEAN PRIME (Labour): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare. Quite a hard debate to follow actually over here having quite an emotional reaction to some of the statements that were made by the previous speaker Jacqui Dean trivialising what this bill intends to do and the challenges—the very real challenges—that are faced by people in communities like mine; a very rural community. I will speak to that in detail and I will also respond to the points that were made that there is no measure in place to require accountability and compliance of the law. I think it would have helped if the speaker had have read the scheme before giving the debate this evening.First I want to start by acknowledging the Minister of Local Government the Hon Nanaia Mahuta for introducing this bill which I know is going to have an impact in my local communities in Northland. I will speak to the specifics of that when I give a few examples. I also want to acknowledge the preparatory work that has gone into the bill thus far. It looks like it is only a small amount in that it's removing one part which is the statutory declaration requirement but it is a very considered piece of legislation that is being put forward. It is trying to address a problem which has actually been identified by the department itself and by the Department of Internal Affairs' Service Innovation Lab. So I want to commend the Minister for introducing this bill.Now what it is proposing to do is to remove the statutory declaration requirement within the legislation because it is seen as an impediment; something that is perhaps prohibiting people from fully accessing the scheme that has been in place since 1973. I think that the Rates Rebate Scheme is a scheme that we can be proud of. It is a scheme that makes available a rebate to New Zealanders who fall within the low-income bracket. The amount of money available for the rebate has been going up over time. The average is in the late $500s that has been granted but actually more recently moving up to $610 $620 and in the coming year $630. Now that is a significant amount of money for people who are on low incomes like many of the people who live in Northland. What I know is that we have one of the lowest average incomes in the country. When I look at a table of information available on the department's website I've highlighted there—in the Far North District the Kaipara District and the Whangarei District—the uptake that we have of the Rates Rebate Scheme.SPEAKER: Order! I think the member has gone past the period where she can have a general discussion about the Rates Rebate Scheme and she's now to focus on the changes that the bill entails.WILLOW-JEAN PRIME: Yes I am coming to that point Mr Speaker.SPEAKER: Four hours—four minutes later. It just felt like four hours I'm sorry.WILLOW-JEAN PRIME: Well it is important to set the context to say why removing the statutory declaration is actually going to make a meaningful difference to communities like Northland. While we have a pretty good uptake currently there is capacity for more. In talking to people in my electorate the issues that were identified with the statutory declaration—which are mentioned in the paper and were mentioned in the Minister's speech—was first and foremost access to council offices. So if you consider the Far North District for example we are a huge district from Cape Reinga to just north of Whangarei in Hūkerenui. Our service centres are in Kaikohe in Kerikeri a centre in Kawakawa Kaitāia—so that's some distance from Te Ranga Te Hāpua Te Kao and all those who would have to travel a long way to Kaitāia to access the rates rebate and give a statutory declaration. What the removal of the statutory declaration requirement would achieve for those people who live in Te Kao and Te Hāpua who we know are likely to be able to access this scheme because of the low average incomes is that they wouldn't have to travel over an hour to Kaitāia using their own cars or somebody else's cars using money to go and access a small return. What removing the statutory declaration would allow them and the council to do is actually make the service available online or by paper. I know for a fact that they would use this system in areas that are particularly some distance away from our service centres. The other thing to remember is that we don't have a public transport system in most of Northland so that is not an option for many people to travel to these centres. Some of the centres are part-time centres so not always open and the services aren't available. I understand from talking to the Far North District Council that they do not do private visits to people's private homes; some councils do at an additional expense to them.So what councils who have given feedback on this proposed legislation have said about the process is that it would allow them to modernise their processes to be able to use the option of online and paper-only which would suit their communities but currently the statutory declaration requirement and them being physically present at a council office does not allow them to be able to put that type of process in place.The other example that the report identifies that I can think about is that in Northland we also have for residents in Russell where there is a large part of the population who are superannuitants who are generally the largest uptake of this and North Hokianga have to catch ferries and the gold card doesn't apply to our ferries in Northland and it is something that they have complained about in terms of health services that I think would equally apply to this. So it is inhibiting our ability to provide what is really a wonderful scheme.The other issue that was identified by the department is embarrassment. If I could give you an example which I found quite alarming of an experience up North there were groups of people waiting for their turn to be seen by the rates rebate team. They were required to turn up—because that's a statutory declaration requirement to be physically present—and they were to wait to be called. They would sit at a desk in a communal hall with many closely spaced tables. Sometimes they already had their information about their income details and they sat there and while they sat there those details were given back to them to confirm as part of the statutory declaration with no privacy. And they found that incredibly degrading. They hoped that no one would see them entering—you know to know that they were going in to ask for assistance. It was hard enough in the first instance to ask for assistance but to publicly do so made it twice as hard for them. So this bill actually acknowledges that one of the very real challenges that people have is embarrassment in accessing something that they are entitled to under our law and under the 1973 Act. If removing the requirement to be physically present for a statutory declaration can be done then it could make this easier for our communities to access and better for their wellbeing.Now I just want to respond to the point made earlier that there's going to be some harm caused by not having this requirement for a statutory declaration and that it's not that hard to just get in your car—assuming you have one and you have the money to put petrol in it—to go down to your local council office which is an hour away and a ferry across to make your statutory declaration in person. Or we could go to a JP. Now interesting because I've been doing a project locally and in our spread-out community of Northland there are actually huge gaps where we don't have any current justices of the peace to be able to serve our communities for things like this. So you know I look at Kāretu I look at Waikare for example. It's a 45-minute drive to Kawakawa assuming you have a vehicle or somebody who can take you in—over some of the worst roads in the country by the way. And we don't have a JP in those towns—sorry not even a town; in those communities—so that's another issue that we have to address. But it wouldn't prohibit them if this goes through being able to access their rates remission and I know plenty in the community there who would be able to because they wouldn't be physically required to present to give their statutory declaration to access it. And we're getting marae digital connectivity and so they'll be able to do it down at the hub. Kia ora Mr Speaker.