Logie JanJAN LOGIE (Green): I am pleased to rise to take a call for the Green Party in the Committee stage of the Charities Amendment Bill. We are supporting this bill through the Committee of the whole House. As this is my first chance to speak after the quakes I would just like to add my voice to others in this Chamber offering my aroha to the people of Kaikōura and Marlborough and also those affected in Wellington. I know that people in Canterbury are familiar with these shaky times but it is a new thing for many other people and we do not underestimate what a toll it takes. For people who have lost family members and indeed their houses and their dreams our thoughts are with you. So back to this bill which as has already been stated started off as an amendment to four provisions by way of a Statutes Amendment Bill. We understand that the Minister put them in and presented them as minor technical and non-controversial changes which is appropriate for statutes amendment bills. Through that process the community sector noticed one of the amendments in there that caused significant alarm for them and as a result there were 33 written submissions and seven oral submissions which is a very unusual thing in my experience for a Statutes Amendment Bill. There was pretty much general support for three provisions which are what we now see in this bill because as a select committee there was a choice—and it only takes one member in the House to say This causes concern." and it cannot go ahead. So the Government Administration Committee very constructively said: "Well there's concern from the community affected by this bill—by one provision—so let's move that aside and not deal with that and let's create a separate bill and provide an opportunity for people to have specific feedback and further the things that did not cause concern." which is what this piece of legislation is—those three provisions.I am very pleased that we did that and I think the Government in supporting that in the House and going through these stages is also taking a step to—at least on the surface level—restore relationships with the sector that have been damaged over the last I would say 8 years and also by this being brought through in a Statutes Amendment Bill process. We know that there were different views on that point but for us the relationship and the concerns of the sector were primary so we were pleased to have had that taken out.What does remain in this bill which will pass through the House hopefully without contention is an amendment that means that a person cannot be an officer of a charitable entity if they have been convicted of a tax evasion or similar offence under the Tax Administration Act. That is just and right and no one disagreed with that at all. It also clarifies that if a group applies to register as a charity but does not respond to a request for follow-up information or any other notice by the chief executive under section 18 within 20 working days then the Department of Internal Affairs gets to say basically that it is no longer an active application and takes it off its books. That may not sound like a very long time for some people if you think about charitable organisations. A month is often a cycle for organisations where they may only have one meeting in that time but we need to remember that this is for an application to register. It does not mean you have to be able to provide all of the information—just be able to respond. That did get the support from the community sector.We noticed that the Department of Internal Affairs informed us that there were 180 applications in the 2015-16 year where it did not get that information or anybody replying at all within that time frame so it is a significant issue for the department. We do not want our systems tied up responding when people are not responding. Thank you."