Simmonds PennyPENNY SIMMONDS (National—Invercargill): Thank you Madam Speaker. I'm pleased to rise to speak in support of the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Amendment Bill in its final reading. It's a privilege to speak alongside my National Party colleagues with such wealth of experience in this area: Matt Doocey a mental health practitioner and Harete—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! With apologies to the member could those two members on my left please observe social distancing. Thank you.PENNY SIMMONDS: Thank you Madam Speaker. Also I acknowledge Harete Hipango who has significant experience as a lawyer practising in this area.Like my colleague Chris Bishop I also regret that the Government speakers have not been able to maintain more than a few minutes speaking on this matter which is incredibly important to people of New Zealand and particularly a Government that campaigned so vigorously on mental health issues.I agree that this bill has small but significant changes in it but those changes relate really to those with the most significant and enduring mental health conditions. And we really are seeing mental health across a whole wide range of communities and levels of severity skyrocketing and ballooning out times waiting for services. So yes we certainly support these changes but they should be seen in that context of a Government that promised much and has delivered little in this area a country that is grappling with significant mental health issues and an Act that needs much wider repeal and replacing than these minor adjustments.I don't want to say minor" and take away any of the importance of the changes in this. They certainly are important and like others who have spoken today from the Health Committee it was a privilege to listen to the submitters both the service providers who submitted and also the users of services. It was a really salient reminder of just how personal these changes will be for people. I think back to one of the submitters a young gentleman who had been under a compulsory treatment order for four years and his submission spoke of the loss of hope that that gave him being in a compulsory treatment order that was indefinite. We can only imagine that indefinite situation seeping hope out of your being that there is no review period. So I think about how when this bill is passed what a sense of hope it will give to that individual and I think we should take much pride in that. Many of the submitters talked about how it is a breach of human rights to have had the indefinite treatment orders and certainly we can see when we look at the impact that it has had on individuals. So I think that is one of the most significant parts to ensure that any compulsory treatment order is reviewed on a 12-month period and that wasn't without some discussion. There were a number of submitters who would have liked to have seen that a six-monthly period review. I think probably with the discussion that went on we feel we came to the right place being a 12-month duration and certainly that'll be something that we should be looking at when the full repeal and replacement comes into place. Hopefully we will have had a chance to see how that 12-month review period has been working.The other part of it that there was a considerable amount of discussion around was the transportation of special patients and the need to use restraint at some times to ensure that it was the safest and least restrictive way to maintain both the patient's safety but also staff and public safety. As you can imagine the use of restraint is not something that any of us would want to see be used lightly and it is something that caused considerable discussion around the severity the use of it the regularity. I think that again through those discussions on the Health Committee we came to a good compromise.The other matter that of course COVID has made us all look at is how often we do need to be in person and how feasible it is to use audiovisual links. Again quite an amount of discussion on what might seem a simple amendment but listening to the submitters obviously family that might be in rural areas that it was quite difficult for them to attend some of the assessment meetings. This was going to add an ability for them to be present and be present in support of their friends and family. Again it was good to be able to relate that back at a very personal level when one of the submitters spoke about how during their assessment several years ago they were entirely alone and how hopeless that made them feel.So yes certainly audiovisual links are a valuable and important tool not only for the patient but also for family or caregiver support for the patient. But our conversations and our discussions around it were very much that this must not be a default place because of staffing issues or budget issues or convenience issues for officials. It must definitely be patient- and patient family - and caregiver-centred so that it is not being used as a convenience to officials but rather as an enabling opportunity for families and for the patients. So we were pleased again to have got to a good place there where a requirement for reporting on how often and the reasons why the audiovisual was used instead of in-person assessments and also that that reporting will be taken to a higher level to be able to look right across the country to see that there is consistency in the use of that across the country. So that gave us an element of trust that this would be used in an appropriate way.So it was certainly a bill that had a small number of changes but very important changes that we know will make a very significant difference to people whose lives are being impacted by this. But it should not be lost that it really is small minor changes in the context of an Act that needs significant repeal and replacement in a time when our country is experiencing an incredible issue with mental health with the skyrocketing numbers and with the waiting times and access to services. So we do commend this bill to the House but we do it in the hope that it will be sooner rather than later that we see the full repeal and replacement of the Act. Thank you Madam Speaker."