Shearer David: Human Rights Amendment Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeShearer David: Human Rights Amendment Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 09 June 2016. Volume:714;Page:11883. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID SHEARER (Labour—Mt Albert): It is my privilege to be able to stand and address this bill and to also say that Labour will be supporting this bill. That support has come about through actually a pretty tortuous process both through the selectcommittee and through the Committee stages where the many issues that we had particularly opposed were reversed by the Government. We are very pleased that that has happened and as a result of that we feel content with the changes and sufficiently content to back the bill. As I said the bill has changed considerably since it was introduced. It started off really as a bill to look at the Human Rights Commission and to bring in the possibility of having a disabilities rights commissioner which of course we supported and I think there was a need there that needed to be fulfilled.But what the Government did was use the legislation more as a sort of a Trojan Horse to bring about other changes that we did not agree with. As the Minister who has just sat down noted there was likely to be the removal of individual designations particularly that of the Race Relations Commissioner—a position currently held by Susan Devoy and I believe she is doing a good job and a necessary job in our society; I come from Auckland which is the third most diverse city in the world and certainly we need a Race Relations Commissioner—and secondly the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner a position that is currently held by Jackie Blue a former National Party MP who is also I have to say doing a good job. She is actually holding the Government to account on many of the issues that have come up in front of the commission so she is certainly showing no favour in terms of her previous employment. So we felt those two commissioners were necessary and that was one of the reasons why we in the first and second readings vehemently argued that those particular designations needed to be reinstated.I want to acknowledge the work of my colleague Jacinda Ardern and the way that she has pushed this bill through because she wrote to the Minister setting out very clearly that we opposed the bill for that reason but also for some of the other issues that had come up as well. The second issue she spoke to was the number of commissioners which was proposed to be limited by the amendments in this piece of legislation and we did not feel that limiting the number of commissioners was a very positive move. Thirdly the other issue was that the Chief Human Rights Commissioner when seeking to get the work programme put in place had to consult—and it sounded very much to us like “had to get the acceptance of”—the Minister.Those are the three issues that we disagreed on. Jacinda Ardern argued those vehemently—as did my other colleagues as well. She also wrote to the Minister of Justice and wanted to get some confirmation that those three issues were not going to be problems. As a result of that Supplementary Order Paper 175 was brought before the House at the Committee stage which reversed—fairly much it reversed—the first two problems that we had with the legislation. It was further clarified in the letter that the Minister sent to Jacinda Ardern after Jacinda Ardern had written to the Minister and as a result of that we are now in a position to be able to support the bill.Effectively what this actually means is that the Race Relations Commissioner and the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner will stay in place and that the number of commissioners will not be curtailed and will not be limited as the Associate Minister of Justice Simon Bridges who just spoke gave us assurance and I am sure this will be an assurance that will be read. His Hansard will be read in the future when the Chief Human Rights Commissioner is looking at this particular legislation in terms of guidance for their own work. The chief commissioner will be able to see that the chief commissioner does not need to sit down with the Minister and seek approval for a particular work plan that they are embarking on.So the three issues that we were opposed to have all been met by the Government and I want to thank the Government for coming to the party and doing that. We are now—with some minor tweaks—effectively back where we were before with the acceptance of a Disability Rights Commissioner which we think is a very positive move. As a result of that this legislation is a reasonable piece of legislation. We have spent a lot of time on it and a lot of effort on it perhaps going in a bit of a circle but nevertheless it certainly is more acceptable I think and not only to us. I think it is a better piece of legislation for New Zealand and for defending the rights of New Zealanders which this office is importantly given the job of defending.I cannot count the number of times that the Race Relations Commissioner or the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner have spoken out in terms of what has been going on in our society. It is welcome. It is a check on some of the more egregious issues that have come up. It is a means of letting off steam. It is a means of changing people’s opinions. It plays a very very positive and important part in the life of New Zealand. For that reason I am very pleased that Labour is now able to support this bill and is able to see that the commission will continue to do a very good job in terms of defending the human rights of New Zealanders no matter who they are.