Utikere TangiTANGI UTIKERE (Labour—Palmerston North): I rise from my normally sedentary non-pedestrian position to perhaps provide an eloquent suggestive form of conversational conduct—Dr Duncan Webb: Discourse.TANGI UTIKERE: Discourse—thank you Dr Webb—to provide a contribution for those herein.I rise in support of this bill the Plain Language Bill. The reality is that the way in which some members of our community receive information from Government agencies from public services is not fit for purpose.So what is this bill seeking to do? Very simply it is seeking to ensure that our community is able to receive information in a way that they can easily understand; that is communicated in a way that is easily understood. I do want to just start by acknowledging my colleague the member for Nelson Rachel Boyack whose bill—this is in her name. I know that Ms Boyack has already made a couple of contributions in the House this morning.Palmy is her second home she indicated—you'd be familiar with that Madam Speaker—herself. But for the benefit of those at home that perhaps missed Mr Chris Bishop's contribution he described Ms Boyack as a conscientious and diligent member of Parliament—and that she certainly is.We all know that members' day is an opportunity for members who have had their bills drawn from the biscuit tin to progress them. So while we hear from members opposite that this is the focus of the Government—wasting time etc.—far from it. As Jan Logie has indicated this is a member's bill; it is in the member's name. It happens to be that most if not all members on this side of the House think that it's a very good bill to progress through the Parliament. And members on this side of the House are not alone: because of the submissions that were received by the Governance and Administration Committee they also suggested that it was a worthwhile bill for consideration and to progress through the Parliament.Can I acknowledge members on the Governance and Administration Committee. That's the committee to which this bill went and the committee has returned its report to the House. I started off as a member of that committee so I know that it is very collegial but it's also hard-working. So I acknowledge the work that they've done with this particular bill.This bill as others have suggested—you know plain language itself won't necessarily fix everything but it certainly will make a difference. When I reflect on members in my community in Palmerston North that will make a huge difference. Because when I reflect on my experience as a teacher at a secondary school over many years in terms of the level of engagement with some members of our Pasifika community the language that's used the definitions the acronyms—all of those sorts of things in the Ministry of Education and school environments do not encourage or support some members of our community to engage let alone engage with the process.So anything that's going to change that and make a difference I think is something that should be celebrated. Yes there can be tweaks along the way and the select committee in its wisdom have acknowledged a number of suggested changes that they think that the Parliament should progress—sensible ones when one looks at them. When we look and delve into the focus of this bill it is about promotion. It's about promotion of good practices; the use of plain language in official documents. So we're not talking about every single document that exists out there; we are talking about particular and specific documents that have a public purpose.We're also talking about websites. We all know that most are able to engage with an opportunity to get information through websites—that's certainly an expectation these days. So not just in written form but what might be seen online is really really important because information from Government organisations and departments and access to that information is a basic democratic right. So that's what this particular bill seeks to achieve: to ensure that the access and the method of communication is a way in which it is easily able to be understood.All of us as members of this House engage with constituents who have more than one or two issues when it comes to communicating with Government agencies. When I reflect upon the submission from the CAB the Citizens Advice Bureau a longstanding organisation who fronted up to the select committee and identified that this bill will actually make a difference I like to listen to those individuals the hard-working volunteers who spend countless hours and days—certainly in my community and many others as well—engaging with people who are wanting help who are wanting assistance who are wanting support. If that is just one organisation that is saying to the Parliament This is a good thing to do" then it is I think important that the Parliament is able to listen to that and to reflect on it.What is of interest is you know when we look at other agencies—and local government is a good example; the bill that's just passed through the House earlier today was one focused on local government. If we reflect on our own spheres in terms of local communities we all know and expect that local governments are agencies or organisations that are able to engage with the community and they're doing things in a different way. They're rethinking how they can engage with their communities to ensure that the information that gets out to their ratepayers their residents their communities of interest is information that they understand and information that they value.If we all think about how our rates demands have changed over the years to be less of a focus on just what the bottom line is and actually more of an understanding of what the services and the provision of services that local government does provide it's yet another example of the changing dynamic within which this bill sits and falls.One of the things that I did observe is that the select committee obviously turned its mind to a number of workable changes: for example the definition of a document but also making clear that Māori language and other languages would not effectively be part and parcel of what was required to fall within the plain-language definition. I think that's really important because when I reflect on some communities—like Palmerston North where we are a welcoming community in terms of new migrants; we have more than 165 different ethnic groups that are represented in Palmerston North alone and more than 220 different dialects that are spoken in the city—it's not a one-size-fits-all approach and certainly when you take their one size and you make sure that it's in a language that is second or third or fourth generation for some and not for others it makes the communication opportunity much much more difficult.So we hear that through the select committee process where submitters were talking about or referring to the fact that this would make a huge difference particularly in the space of those organisations and individuals for whom English is an additional language that they have to learn. So this is a bill that would certainly support them in terms of engaging with things that they are entitled as citizens and residents of this country to engage with—and even as visitors actually to this country to engage with as well. The interesting thing is that this has actually been done; this approach has been taken elsewhere around the world. What some of the feedback indicates is that actually when approaches like this are put in place there is actually an efficiency gain here; that if there is an investment at the start of the process to ensure that people are able to understand and that things can be communicated in an easily accessible way then you save the cost you save the pain you save the experience of having to for example engage with local decision makers with members of Parliament to engage with organisations whether it be Immigration New Zealand whether it be Kāinga Ora whether it be the Ministry of Social Development or others and there is a cost saving and an efficiency gain in doing this.So when I hear from members opposite that they think this is a complete waste of the Parliament's time it flies in the face of what the community's expecting from public agencies—from Government agencies—to ensure that what is put out into that public domain is accessible but also that it's supported by a particular process in place to make sure that things are reviewed.So one other change that I note is that not everything will suddenly have to be changed to make it easy—unfortunately because I would think that actually the sooner the better; the sooner that people are able to get information in a way that they can easily understand the better. But this has a kick-in provision of six months after Royal assent to allow for agencies to put arrangements in place and get things under way.Again I think this is a sensible bill. It is one that will make a huge difference to many members of our community particularly those that currently do not engage and do not have the support within that public sector. I'm delighted to again congratulate my colleague Rachel Boyack and to commend this bill to the House."