Wall Louisa: Human Rights Amendment Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWall Louisa: Human Rights Amendment Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 09 June 2016. Volume:714;Page:11892. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]LOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa): Kia ora e Te Māngai o Te Whare. It is my pleasure to speak on this third reading of the Human Rights Amendment Bill. I am really pleased that Labour is now in a position to support this piece of legislation. I want to just highlight the primary purpose of this Human Rights Amendment Bill which is to establish the role of a Disability Rights Commissioner and to ensure that we uphold our obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.I would like to acknowledge that the thenMinister for Disability Issues the Hon Ruth Dyson signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on behalf of the New Zealand Government—that was in 2006. As a result of us signing that convention the Hon Tariana Turia then appointed a disability commissioner under the Human Rights Act and in fact it was then Catherine Delahunty who proposed a member’s bill to ensure that that role was a formal role within the Human Rights Commission. That is why this piece of legislation is before us today. What is interesting to note is that during the passage of the review we somehow then lost our Race Relations Commissioner and the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner. As part of the process of review through this House it is heartening to see that the response to the overwhelming call to retain those two particular positions means that we are now in a position to support this piece of legislation.I too want to acknowledge my colleague Jacinda Ardern who is our lead in the justice area. I want to highlight that she wrote to Minister Amy Adams on 2 June and this is what she asked: she wanted some assurance that the changes proposed would not lead to a reduction in the number of commissioners currently operating or the loss of their current portfolios. The two areas that she highlighted in addition to race relations equal employment opportunities and disability were indigenous and LGBTI commissioners. Currently the commission has designated LGBTI and indigenous commissioners.So I want to quote from Amy Adams’ response dated 9 June: “Over the last 10 years the commission has operated with around 4.5 fulltime-equivalent commissioners. The intent of the changes in the bill is to remove the current prescription about which commissioners can be full-time or part-time and in delegating extra portfolios to best meet the needs of the commission. The mix of commissioners will be a matter for the chief commissioner to determine. However”—and this is the point I want to highlight—“we do not anticipate there being any significant changes to the number of commissioners as a result of this legislation.” It was on that advice from the Minister that Labour is supporting this piece of legislation. So it is very important that I have read the Minister’s response to a letter from my colleague Jacinda Ardern because that in fact is how this piece of legislation now needs to be interpreted by the Chief Human Rights Commissioner in delegating those particular indigenous and LGBT rights commissioners.So the history of this piece of legislation is aligned to us as a country signing up to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Actually if you look at all of the named commissioners they all relate to different conventions that over time New Zealand has signed up to. The chief commissioner’s role for example really is about New Zealand signing up to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1966. The Race Relations Commissioner is directly aligned to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in 1965. What I really want to highlight is that of the commissioners the LGBTIQ commissioner probably is the one who does not have a convention but the UN has actually produced two reports and the last was out in June 2005. There is a commitment by the United Nations to continue to highlight those people across the world who are most marginalised who are most discriminated against and really that is what our commitment to the United Nations conventions and human rights is all about. We cannot stand by and watch particular members of our family—our human family—and our communities being discriminated against. So it is a pleasure for me to be speaking in support of this legislation. Kia ora.