Bennett GlenGLEN BENNETT (Labour—New Plymouth): In plain language I support this legislation. This is a members' day and this is the third reading. Rachel Boyack congratulations on getting to this point on the third reading of a members' day of a member's bill to support the Plain Language Bill that will come into law I hope this evening.Now the previous speaker Simeon Brown threw out the good old rhetoric around this bill is a bill looking for a problem. Well I don't quite see that to be the case. For myself as someone who appreciates plain language and knows the importance and effectiveness of plain language I support this piece of legislation. Whether it's the people who are dealing with ACC or whether it be benefit entitlements taxation immigration requirements compliance issues or rights in terms of coming to the Family Court and other court situations I think plain language is plain and simple that it is important for us as a society.Now I've spoken in previous speeches about this and I've spoken around how our language evolves and changes and I just want to let people know tonight: do not be afraid—or be not afraid as we used to say.Hon Andrew Little: That's Shakespeare; that's Shakespearian. GLEN BENNETT: That's very Shakespearean. I don't want to bring up Shakespeare but hey you've gone there. Be not afraid of plain language because it doesn't mean that for all of you beautifully educated people with eloquent spoons in your mouths under your tongues you can still speak with that spoon in your mouth under your tongue. You can still speak your big wonderful wonderful huge words that I don't have and I'm OK with that because this is around accessibility. This is around having language that everyone and anyone can understand. So be not afraid. Be not afraid because you can still continue with your large and big words.But when it comes to our public sector when it comes to us in terms of Government agencies surely we want to make sure that every single person in our society has access—everyone in our society has access. And as I was looking through the submissions I came to the Citizens Advice Bureau. They made it very clear in terms of the work that they do. They spend a lot of time meeting with clients meeting with members of the public explaining complex documents unpacking what a letter from Work and Income or a letter from Births Deaths and Marriages actually means when it comes to potentially filling out a form or understanding what their requirement is at the bottom of the document when they sign it. So I agree with the Citizens Advice Bureau in their support for making our language easier and more accessible for all members of our society. And I come back to what the Plain Language Bill is about. It aims to improve the effectiveness and accountability of the Public Service by requiring communications to be clear and accessible to the public—to make it clear and accessible to the public. Now why would you not want that? Why would you be resistant to making sure that everyone—the public—has clear access to democracy clear access to our agencies and our services clear access to what rightful entitlements they may have through Government policy? So that's why I support this piece of legislation. And I don't want to bang on about my history and my work but I've experienced this time and time again. Now I have to confess that I do not have a university degree. In fact—Hon Andrew Little: Confess nothing.GLEN BENNETT: Confession time: I may have confessed it before because I'm pretty open about it but I did make it through sixth form certificate. I did pass.Hon Andrew Little: The second time?GLEN BENNETT: The second time—it was actually the first time; I made it the first time. I was successful and then I made it through about a quarter of the way through seventh form. And just because life's opportunities came along I was able to move on to a different space and place. Now I was nervous actually when I was asked to run for Parliament. I was very nervous because I thought Well I ain't no lawyer. I don't know all the big words that all the big people use." I thought actually "I'm no accountant I'm no business studies graduate and I'm no professor or doctor." In fact the only letters I have after my name are—Marja Lubeck: What are they?GLEN BENNETT: I have none actually. As I was thinking I was trying to think of something funny or something—MP! And I have a friend—he's an elderly friend—and he has a really bad dad joke every time he sees me. He says "Oh listen. Glen he's the local MP; he's a missing person." Hilarious eh? Anyway it was a dad joke so I digress. But for me coming into this place I was very nervous and apprehensive and in fact I said no several times because I didn't feel I had the words and I didn't feel like I had the education and the training to be in this place. But then I realised that this is the House of Representatives—this isn't the House of lawyers or professors or doctors; it is the House of Representatives. It's the House of all people in Aotearoa New Zealand. And so that's why I stand here as the MP for New Plymouth as someone who uses plain language on the daily which does not stop people from using educated language the language of those who know far bigger and more powerful words than I do. Like I say be not afraid because you can still use those words but it means that everyone has access to important pieces of information. It's been interesting paying attention and following this legislation through the House and how vermently and how—I don't think that's the right word. Vermently or vehemently?Hon Members: Vehement.GLEN BENNETT: Vehement see. There we go. Exercise complete—tick. Basically what I mean is—I don't know because I just forgot but I'll come back to the bill and mention the submissions as I paid attention as it went through the Governance and Administration Committee. Thank you to the committee for spending your time on this. But it was a submission from Amanda Nally who spent the past 18 years running her own communications business. Her focus has been on writing for clarity for business science and medical clients. But before that she worked as a journalist and before that she had been a public servant—in fact working for what was Housing New Zealand and the post office back in the day for a number of years. And she stated "It was while working in public service roles I was made keenly aware of the number of clients with low or no literacy which sadly in the post office extended to a small staff and I quickly learnt to avoid embarrassing the clients who are seeking our help to always offer to fill out the paperwork for them." And I know this too well as well because in my work and the community sector that was always the case. You never assumed to know that someone understood or could read the documents. You never imagined or assumed that a client or a community person you were working with knew how to spell correctly or even know how to write. This bill doesn't fix that but this bill makes it more accessible for people. Let us never assume that the person next to you has had the privilege or the opportunity you've had. Never assume that the person next to you has been able to have the experiences or the opportunities that your family or whānau gave you in terms of being able to read write and speak. And sadly we look at what's going on in a number of families around our nation and I'm glad that we have services available to help when it comes to reading and writing and when it comes to speech therapy because we need to make sure that people have language. We need to make sure that people have language that they can communicate with one another because language is power. Words are power. And I think maybe that comes to the reason there's been so much pushback on this legislation because the second we allow plain language within our places and spaces in our society those who have and own the language suddenly may lose or feel like they lose some of their power. But I can say tonight that you do not lose your power. You just allow others to have power and to step up and to have access to all aspects of our society. And I know as a society and as a nation surely that's what we want. We want those who are educated and those who struggle in education—we want all people—to have access to our services to our bureaucracies to our Government and to contribute in a meaningful way to our society. I commend this bill to the House."