Doocey MattMATT DOOCEY (National—Waimakariri): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. It's a pleasure to rise in support of the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Amendment Bill in its first reading a bill that National would support. I was going to come down and just deliver a fairly perfunctory speech on what is a very technical bill but after that last speech from that Minister—that is a Minister under pressure who used his opportunity to talk about a bill to defend his Government's performance in mental health and had the audacity to talk about the last Government's performance in the mental health sector. Well I tell you what the public can do is go back and look at the mental health annual report for every year of the last National Government and that will tell you numbers engaging in specialist services that will tell you numbers engaging in community services that will tell you waiting times consumer experience surveys and that will even tell you suicide statistics. Yet under this Labour Government who apparently according to the Minister who's just taken his seat are the ones who saved the mental health sector well under their reporting we've waited two years Now we've got the annual report for 2018 and 2019 so two years in one report that is 15 pages smaller than a report that we produced for one year. No numbers engaging with statutory services no numbers engaging with mental health services no data on waiting times no data on consumer experience no data on suicide statistics. So that Minister can state his Government's performance but they told us they were going to be the most open and transparent Government—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! I'm waiting for the member to reference the bill.MATT DOOCEY: Thank you very much Madam Speaker. The Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Amendment Bill that National supports goes some way for one of the Government's recommendations. Of course this bill will eliminate indefinite treatment orders. But I would argue although this bill is important that it's a bill that got introduced under a lot of haste because there was a lot of pressure on that Minister there was a lot of pressure on the Government because of course the recommendation was to repeal and replace the mental health Act. Yes remember those recommendations? Forty-eight of them and only about four or five of them have been delivered. Yes this bill goes some way towards that recommendation but it's very much a stocking filler. This Government rode into power in 2017 on the back of a lot of people's pain and mental health. They promised a lot. And yes this bill does respond to one of those recommendations but people turned up by their thousands from that mental health inquiry sharing their stories. Whānau and family turned up sharing their personal stories. They felt listened to; they felt heard. So where is the action from this Government? Yes this bill goes some way but it's only a small step in the right direction. This Government has got a lot to live up to.Parts of this bill it is important that we do modernise. We learnt some very valuable lessons under COVID. And under the COVID-19 Response (Further Management Measures) Legislation Act 2020 there was an ability to use audiovisual links to allow family members and some professionals to attend sessions whether that be around assessment and care planning. And I think we've learnt that that is the right way forward because what we do know is that with the recovery model we need to put the individual and we need to put their family at the centre of that care. Anything that could improve the participation of individuals and their family in their care the National Party supports and that's why we support removing the sunset date for technical and audiovisual link amendments. We think there is a move to modernise and use technology so that individuals and families can be part of their care.We also support the part of the bill that looks to minimise the risk of harm to patient or public when transporting forensic patients who are special patients" defined under this Act. We also agree with eliminating indefinite treatment orders. I think when you work through the current process where people who are deemed not fit to be released under their compulsory treatment order and then to be classed as indefinite I think that doesn't bode well for the future care of that individual. It's not good for their human rights. And I think the ability to have that 12-month review is important because ultimately what we are talking about here is a time where every 12 months the professionals will check in with that individual. They'll check in with the family as well to understand what's going well and what's going not so well in their care as well.Just to conclude the National Party supports this bill. There's a lot of good technical changes in this bill. But I repeat: that wasn't normal what we heard from a Minister today. That was a Minister under pressure. This Government has promised a lot in mental health. I hope they deliver for many vulnerable New Zealanders and their families. But when we see what was revealed over the weekend—data missing from annual reports Government officials talking openly about taking out data because it was seen as negative to the Government's performance—that is concerning. The public quite rightly needs to have confidence in our public sector. That Minister needs to take responsibility and ensure his ministry knows that shouldn't be acceptable. Thank you Madam Speaker.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The question is that the motion be agreed to."