Simpson ScottHon SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. I'm rising to take a relatively brief call in this first reading debate wearing my hat as the National Party's workplace relations and safety spokesperson and not as a member of the Health Committee because it will be the Health Committee that considers this bill. I listened carefully to the contributions we've had so far and in particular I listened to that contribution from my colleague the Hon Michael Woodhouse who of course was in the previous Government the very competent and capable Minister responsible for the principal Act which this piece of legislation seeks to amend. I listened carefully to his speech because I thought that he correctly and precisely gave a historic perspective of how we came to be attaching these sectors of care workers into this piece of legislation and attaching it to the principal Act. I was surprised to hear both the Minister who spoke first the Hon Willie Jackson and then the new member who has just resumed her seat Angie Warren-Clark speaking clearly from notes that have been I suspect researched from people who weren't part of that history in the last Parliament because clearly they have got a revisionist view of history. Michael Woodhouse in his presentation made the point that nowhere in all the debates on that principal Act—nowhere in that—was there any single mention by any of the then Labour Opposition members to these sectors of care workers. So it's been a day of shambles and chaos in the Government and I thought that they might be trying to regain some form of equilibrium with this bill but it seems no they want to double down and rewrite history as we go through. So this is a bill that as Michael Woodhouse indicated we are going to support through first reading to select committee and we don't actually see any fundamental roadblocks or impediments to the bill proceeding through every stage. Essentially what this bill seeks to do is to round out the previous settlement agreements. Of course it was the National Government at the time that back in June 2017 passed the principal Act. As Michael Woodhouse said that was a historic piece of legislation that involved the receipt by some 55000 care workers of an eye-wateringly large payment of $2.3 billion and it recognised that the work that they had been doing in the aged and disability residential care sector had been historically and for a long period of time underpaid. This bill gives effect to the agreement in respect to vocational and disability support workers—that was an agreement that was signed back by the last Government in July 2017—and it also gives effect to the mental health and addiction support workers through an agreement signed in July 2018. The primary purpose of those agreements is to address those historic inequities and to achieve pay equity in a consistent and clear manner across the support services sector. The Terranova case was referred to by a couple of previous speakers. That followed a pay equity claim that was eventually agreed to and it was on the basis that those workers had been systematically underpaid primarily because it was predominantly work done by women. That's a matter relating to another piece of legislation currently before this House and it will be back before long for a second reading. So I don't want to prolong this debate because we do support it but I might just before I sit down with your indulgence Madam Assistant Speaker acknowledge the folk that are gathering in the gallery to hear the maiden speech of my colleague Paulo Garcia. I know that they've travelled far and wide from across the country to this Parliament to be part of a significant and historic day and in about three-quarters of an hour they're going to hear a fine and uplifting speech from a wonderful new member of this Parliament. Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker.