Radhakrishnan PriyancaCHARITIES AMENDMENT BILLThird ReadingHon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector): I present a legislative statement on the Charities Amendment Bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Poto Williams): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website. Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: I move That the Charities Amendment Bill be now read a third time.Kia orana Madam Speaker. I am pleased to be taking the Charities Amendment Bill through its final stage in this House. I am confident that passing this bill will help Aotearoa's charities to thrive while maintaining public accountability and transparency. The third reading of this bill is timely. It was just last week we celebrated Te Wiki Tūao ā-Motu—National Volunteer Week. The work that volunteers do in charities and other organisations requires significant time and effort and passing this bill is a great way to honour and value the collective energy and mana of volunteers across Aotearoa New Zealand.We saw again this year the real strength of communities coming together. Weather events like the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle have put people's lives at risk flooded homes destroyed businesses and closed schools. Many charities continue to be at the forefront of the response and the recovery. Charities have always been there when we needed them the most. They provide services that keep people safe help them recover and heal allow them to live with dignity strengthen their mana and support them to thrive. It is time for us to help them by removing barriers and facilitating their work.I come from the charitable sector prior to Parliament and I've heard directly from many charities that this bill will make a difference and that's why I'm proud to lead a bill that will help charities to assist our country. This bill makes practical improvements to the Act to make sure that legislative settings are still fit for purpose after almost two decades. The operating environment for our charitable sector has undergone significant change since the Act came into force. The disestablishment of the Charities Commission the introduction of new reporting requirements and changes to other legislation that charities need to comply with have prompted the need for another look at this Act.I'd like to touch once more on the impact that the bill makes. The bill will make it easier for charities to comply with their financial reporting obligations by empowering the chief executive to exempt small charities from the onerous reporting standards. For small charities this will reduce their compliance burden and allow them to dedicate more of their time to delivering their day-to-day mahi.Currently charities must file an appeal to the High Court if they wish to appeal a decision of the regulator. This appeal route can be inaccessible to many charities given the costs the complexities and the time associated with taking appeals to the courts. The bill expands the jurisdiction of the Taxation Review Authority to hear first appeals under the Act. When hearing charities' appeals the authority will be known as the Taxation and Charities Review Authority. This change will improve charities' access to justice by making it less costly and less complex to appeal decisions.The wider legislative and operating environment for charities has also changed over the years. The charitable sector and the wider public rely on the regulator to make transparent clear decisions based on best practice. The bill takes clear steps to reflect this. Because of the bill charities will have more opportunity to have a say about decisions that affect them and give them more time to engage in the decision-making process.We know that charities can vary in legal structure and as a result be subject to other obligations under other legislation. I'm pleased that the bill clarifies what it means to be an officer and what the role of an officer is. The impact of this will be far reaching and I believe removes the doubt about what an officer's role is under the Charities Act. The bill also makes several changes to compliance and enforcement tools so that they are fit for purpose. Overall the amendments that the bill makes are going to make the Charities Act a more accessible and transparent regulatory framework. At the same time changes to the bill will help make it easier for the more than 28000 charities that are registered under the Charities Act and help them to thrive.As Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector I have been proud to lead this bill through all of its stages and I'd like to acknowledge everyone who has contributed along the way to its success. I will start by acknowledging my predecessors who started the work to modernise the Charities Act: firstly the Hon Peeni Henare in 2018 and then you Madam Speaker the Hon Poto Williams in 2019 and 2020. Thank you for building solid foundations for this mahi to happen.I would also like to thank the Social Services and Community Committee and its chair Angie Warren-Clark for the constructive consideration of the bill. I appreciate the time the committee took to understand this bill and the views of submitters and I thank those who attended meetings made submissions to the committee and engaged with officials. Your suggestions have helped improve this bill.Last but definitely not the least I'd like to thank the charities sector. The charities sector in Aotearoa New Zealand has strong public support due to their extraordinary contribution to communities across the country from education to religious services from health to social services among many other sectors. Furthermore our charities are great ambassadors of Aotearoa's values of kindness justice and equality. More than 3000 registered charities have reported overseas activities most of them across the South Pacific strengthening our links with tangata moana. More than 208000 volunteers contribute approximately 1.7 million hours per week and more than 98000 people work full-time in the charitable sector.I'd like to express my most heartfelt gratitude and thanks to all these people doing so much for others—people that very generously give their time and their energy and their passion to make a difference in our communities. Our country thrives and is enriched by their goodwill and open-handed commitment in every community. To all of them I say ka nui te mihi—thank you very much indeed. The Charities Amendment Bill will benefit therefore not just charities but rather our entire society and our nation as a whole. I'd like to acknowledge that with a whakataukī that speaks to the importance of nourishing our communities with care: manaaki whenua manaaki tangata haere whakamua—care for the land care for the people and together we will progress. I commend this bill to the House.