edithatogo/nz-hansard-corpus huggingface dataset:
van Velden BrookeBROOKE VAN VELDEN (Deputy Leader—ACT): Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise on behalf of the ACT Party in support of the Building (Building Products and Methods Modular Components and Other Matters) Amendment Bill.I want to take this time to acknowledge all the New Zealanders who work hard to provide homes for us in New Zealand the people who go out every day—the builders the plumbers the electricians the drainlayers the tilers the carpenters. There are so many people who are all involved in the building process and I just really want to acknowledge that they do a hard job—they really do. And under this Government's Budget of course this is middle New Zealand who is being squeezed from every direction.The ACT Party is supporting this bill because it makes a very simple change that would help to streamline and make the Building Act more effective. We support it because it's helping to make building homes faster a quicker process and hopefully that can go some way to addressing the building shortage in New Zealand—the fact that we have Wellington this week hitting an average house price of $1 million and Auckland hitting $1.25 million. We have a housing shortage in New Zealand and I am certainly hopeful that this bill will go some way to helping to address that through product certification.Now there's not too much else to say but really it is a very simple bill and the ACT Party commends it to the House. Thank you Madam Speaker.
Little AndrewInstruction to the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade CommitteeHon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister responsible for the GCSB) on behalf of the Minister for National Security and Intelligence: I move That the Intelligence and Security (Review) Amendment Bill be reported to the House by 17 June 2021 and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting (except during oral questions) during any evening on a day in which there's been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House and outside the Wellington area despite Standing Orders 193 195 and 196. It is clear from the contributions from members across the House that members accept the need for and eagerly await the review that is contemplated by this amending legislation and bringing it forward. In order to do that in order to be able to progress the review that otherwise would take place next year it would be desirable to commence that sooner rather than later. That would ordinarily call for and if we are to do that a truncated period of time in the select committee and bearing in mind really that the only amendment is to section 235 of the current legislation which is to amend the time frame within which a review happens. It doesn't bear upon the substantive issues that members have rightly referred to and look forward to contributing to a discussion on; it is just about amending that date. So there's not a lot for members of the public who take an interest in these matters to express a view on. There may be some who have a view that there should not be an accelerated review but this is about respecting as members have said the recommendations of the royal commission of inquiry. There is a general sense by members of this House from all parties that it is timely to look at both the legislation to make sure that the balance of rights and interests and the powers provided for in the legislation are those that are required for our agencies to do their job of keeping the nation secure and in terms of that review to make sure that the agencies' priorities are the ones that reflect our expectations about the way we keep our nation secure. But those matters of substance are part of the review. In order to get to the review we needed to get there sooner rather than later and the truncated select committee process is the way of doing that. I invite therefore the House to consider this motion.Motion agreed to.
Intelligence and Security (Review) Amendment Bill — First Reading
Andersen Ginny; Salesa JennyGINNY ANDERSEN (Labour—Hutt South): Talofa lava Madam Speaker. The Intelligence and Security (Review) Amendment Bill may be a minor and technical law change but it is still an important change that will begin a process that will be of huge value to New Zealand going forward into the future. The independent statutory review was scheduled in the law to start after September 2022 but as a result of passing this bill the review will now be able to start on 1 July of this year. And that was a direct reflection from the royal commission.I was lucky enough to participate and be part of some of the hui that were conducted around the country that were attended by the Minister the Hon Andrew Little by the Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan and also by Ibrahim Omer where we listened and engaged with communities in the Wellington region about concerns and how we could strengthen our legal system strengthen our democracy to make sure that we would never again have an instance such as March 15.So I think that this bill enabling the process to kick off sooner is the right thing to do. It gives reassurance to our communities across New Zealand who are still reeling from those days we witnessed back on March 15 to know that we will take every action possible to not leave ourselves open to such an attack again in the future. By having this review under way and taking quick action and not leaving it to sit for another year on the books shows a dedication and a commitment to making New Zealand a safer place where all people feel free to practise their culture and religion as they choose to do so without any fear because that is the wrong thing to have in this country. Therefore I would like to commend this bill to the House.Motion agreed to.Bill read a first time.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The question is That the Intelligence and Security (Review) Amendment Bill be considered by the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee.Motion agreed to.Bill referred to the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee.
Walters VanushiVANUSHI WALTERS (Labour—Upper Harbour): Fa'afetai tele lava Madam Speaker. Tēnā koe. Thank you for the opportunity to take a brief call in relation to the Intelligence and Security (Review) Amendment Bill at its first reading.I'm a strong believer that to be heard to have your concerns or your views acknowledged is an affirmation of belonging. So although this is technically small democratically and culturally it is powerful. To understand the significance of this change it's really about reflecting on the enormity of the loss that the whānau the Muslim community and that we all as New Zealanders faced on 15 March 2019. But it's also significant in terms of what it signifies in terms of the Government's response to the voices of those who submitted to the royal commission process and then what was reflected through the royal commission report itself.New Zealand isn't the only country that has a review function like this; the United Kingdom and other countries do as well. I was recently reading their 2014 review and the author of their review report commented on the need for reviews where potential conflicts between State powers and civil liberties are acute but information is tightly rationed and I completely agree. I also think that periodic reviews are needed because of the nature of the risk itself that terrorism presents to society but also that we need timely reviews because of the nature of our changing world and I'm often struck by the demands we place on legislation to cover what can be the unforeseeable. I think we've seen an example of that over the last year.My colleagues have already spoken to the change itself which is contained in clause 4 of the bill and is very minor; so I won't review that again. But I will say there are other aspects to the Act that obviously haven't been touched. So a robust process will follow and for those interested who are listening at home you can look to sections 236 and 241 of the Act that sets out some of the parameters of the review itself.I started by saying that it's a deceptively small change. It's a change to legislation that will have a big impact to our communities. So I do hope that this bill travels smoothly through the House and through select committee and when we do get to the eventual substantive review at a time from July 2021 that that will provide a timely opportunity for individuals including the whānau of the 51 shuhada who lost their lives to have a say at our current settings in regards to the Intelligence and Security Act and to help us test whether the current settings meet and respond robustly to those areas I spoke about before: the significant powers in place the security risks present and to our changing world. I commend this bill to the House.
McKee NicoleNICOLE McKEE (ACT): I do not intend to take a very long call on this bill and the reason being is because it makes a very small change in the legislation. It's a very simple change just in regard to the timing of the statutory review of the intelligence and security agencies. This will move the timing of the review to begin this year from or as soon as practicable after 1 July. The reason for this is to of course give effect to one of the recommendations of the royal commission inquiry into the Christchurch mosque attacks.The royal commission recommended that all legislation related to the counter-terrorism effort including the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002 and the Intelligence and Security Act 2017 is reviewed in order to ensure that it's current and enables our security services to properly monitor and supress threats of terrorism. It is clear that the events on March 15 2019 illustrated a present need to make sure that the laws that govern the agencies tasked to keep us safe remain up to date provide the right checks and balances and allow for agencies to respond to the ever-changing threats to our way of life. What's more the report from the royal commission did highlight areas of concern within the security agencies. People who wish to inflict terrorism on our communities are constantly changing their methods and their tactics and the way that we respond also needs to be in kind with updated methods and tactics.The statutory framework that governs the security agencies needs to reflect the contemporary environment that these agencies operate in and we do need to ensure that any weaknesses that may have been identified from March 15 are addressed. This Parliament has already passed the first reading of an update to our counter-terrorism laws currently being considered through the select committee process so the review to this Act is timely. On that note we commend this bill to the House.
Radhakrishnan PriyancaHon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector): Talofa lava Madam Speaker. The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch masjidain on 15 March 2019 delivered 44 recommendations to this Government. Part of those recommendations was to make changes across the system to—well actually all of those recommendations were about making changes across the system to protect the lives and the wellbeing of those who choose to call New Zealand home. The royal commission highlighted also the importance of regulatory stewardship and ensuring that our legislation remains fit for purpose. Now the Intelligence and Security Act sets out the objectives the functions the powers and the oversight arrangements of the intelligence and security agencies allowing them to act as necessary to protect New Zealand and New Zealand's interests with appropriate limitations and robust oversight. As the member who resumed his seat the Hon Gerry Brownlee pointed out the Act actually requires that an independent review of the Act takes place as soon as practicable after September 2022 which is five years after the Act commenced and then every five to seven years after that. However we have had the Christchurch mosque attacks in 2019 and therefore felt the need in line with the recommendations of the royal commission to ensure that our legislation is fit for purpose to bring forward that independent statutory review. And that is actually what this bill the Intelligence and Security (Review) Amendment Bill does. It makes that very minor technical law change to allow that independent statutory review of the Act to be brought forward. I just want to make two quick points without re-litigating some of the points that have already been made. I refer to the shortened select committee period that previous members have referred to as well. That is something that both sides of this House that our Government has negotiated with the Leader of the Opposition as well—and that's just to ensure that the review itself the shortened select committee period is to get to a point of the review happening. Of course any substantial changes that are recommended through that review to the Act itself will go through the proper select committee process—just giving people comfort that that will happen. I also want to make the point in the nationwide series of hui that Minister Little and I led to share the Government's response to the 44 recommendations of the royal commission that we accepted in principle we heard from many who attended that including families of the shuhada that they still felt unsafe and they wanted changes to be made to ensure that we changed legislation and take all steps that we can to keep New Zealand safe from such attacks in future. I just want to make sure that I emphasise that families of shuhada and the wider public will have the opportunity to express their views on issues related to national security and the matters raised by the royal commission about the legislation through this process.So without further delay I commend this bill to the House.
Mallard TrevorPETITIONS PAPERS SELECT COMMITTEE REPORTS AND INTRODUCTION OF BILLSSPEAKER: No papers have been presented. No bills have been introduced. Petitions have been delivered to the Clerk for presentation. CLERK: Petition of Rebecca Toms requesting that the House urge the Government to provide more expert care and subsidy assistance for young people with eating disorderspetition of Angela Mason requesting that the House urge the Ministry of Education to build a new high school to serve the growing community on the Pohutukawa Coast Auckland Region. SPEAKER: Those petitions stand referred to the Petitions Committee. Select committee reports have been delivered for presentation. CLERK: Report of the Education and Workforce Committee on the Education (Strengthening Second Language Learning in Primary and Intermediate Schools) Amendment Bill andreport of the Finance and Expenditure Committee on the Report of the Attorney-General under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 on the Taxation (Income Tax Rate and Other Amendments) Bill. SPEAKER: The bills are set down for second reading.
Hipkins Chris; Bishop ChrisBUSINESS STATEMENTHon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the House): Legislation to be considered next week will include the first reading of the Construction Contracts (Retention Money) Amendment Bill the second readings of the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Bill the Social Security (Financial Assistance for Caregivers) Amendment Bill and the Financial Markets (Conduct of Institutions) Amendment Bill and the committee stages of the Health (National Cervical Screening Programme) Amendment Bill and the Fair Trading Amendment Bill. Wednesday 9 June will be a members' day.CHRIS BISHOP (National): Thank you to the Leader of the House. I was wondering if he could give some guidance to the House on the Government's intention for progress on item 21 on the Order Paper which is the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill which is approaching its fifth anniversary of being low down on the Order Paper.Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the House): In the fullness of time at the appropriate moment.
Obituary — Dr Ian Shearer
Prayers / Karakia
Mallard TrevorOBITUARIESDr the Hon Ian John ShearerSPEAKER: Members I regret to inform the House of the death on 1 June 2021 of Dr the Hon Ian John Shearer who represented the Hamilton East electorate between 1975 and 1984. He was Minister for the Environment Minister of Science and Technology and Minister of Broadcasting from 1981 to 1984. I desire on behalf of this House to express our sense of the loss we have sustained and our sympathy with the relatives of the late former member. I now ask members to stand with me and observe a period of silence as a mark of respect to his memory.Members stood as a mark of respect.
Mallard Trevor; Ngobi TerisaTHURSDAY 3 JUNE 2021The Speaker took the Chair at 2 p.m.KARAKIA/PRAYERSSPEAKER: As part of our Samoan Language Week trilogy I ask Terisa Ngobi to say the prayer in Samoan. TERISA NGOBI (Labour—Ōtaki): Tatou ifo ma tatalo le Atua silisili ese matou te sulaina lou alofa ma lou agalelei ona o tofiga ua e valaauina i ai matou. Amanaiaina o le Tupu Tamaitai o Peretania. O le matou tatalo alofa ma taitai ia matou felafolafoaiga uma ina ia faia i le loto maualalo ma le faamaoni a matou faaiuga i totonu o lenei Maota Fono. Faamanuia Taitai o le Faigamalo ina ia maua le tofamamao ma le loto maualalo e taitai ai lou atunuu i le manuia ma le filemu. I le suafa o Iesu Keriso Amene.
Wednesday 2 June 2021 - Volume 752
Fair Trading Amendment Bill — Second Reading
VoteA party vote was called for on the question That the Fair Trading Amendment Bill be now read a second time.Ayes 77New Zealand Labour 65; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 10; Te Paati Māori 2.Noes 43New Zealand National 33; ACT New Zealand 10.Motion agreed to.Bill read a second time.
VoteA party vote was called for on the question That the Maritime Transport (MARPOL Annex VI) Amendment Bill be reported to the House by 16 September 2021 and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting (except during oral questions) during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House and outside the Wellington area despite Standing Orders 193 195 and 196(1)(b) and (c).Ayes 75New Zealand Labour 65; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 10.Noes 43New Zealand National 33; ACT New Zealand 10.Motion agreed to.
Maritime Transport (MARPOL Annex VI) Amendment Bill — Instruction to Committee
VoteA party vote was called for on the question That all the words after That" be omitted and the following substituted: "this House has no confidence in anything this Government promises because after just four years its track record of failing to deliver of broken promises of spin over substance and of announcements over results speaks for itself."Ayes 43New Zealand National 33; ACT New Zealand 10.Noes 75New Zealand Labour 65; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 10.Amendment not agreed to.A party vote was called for on the question That the Appropriation (2021/22 Estimates) Bill be now read a second time.Ayes 77New Zealand Labour 65; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 10; Te Paati Māori 2.Noes 43New Zealand National 33; ACT New Zealand 10.Motion agreed to.Bill read a second time."
9. Question No. 9—WomenWILLOW-JEAN PRIME (Labour—Northland) to the Minister for WomenQuestion No. 9—Women9. WILLOW-JEAN PRIME (Labour—Northland) to the Minister for Women: What initiatives are there in Budget 2021 to improve the lives of New Zealand women?Hon JAN TINETTI (Minister for Women): I am pleased to inform the House that Budget 2021 delivers for New Zealand women through breast and cervical cancer screening system improvements increasing benefits to tackle inequality and providing better employment opportunities for women. Some of the highlights that will have a real impact on the lives of women and girls include extending the training incentive allowance 3000 extra places in childcare pay parity for early childhood education teachers and $131 million to tackle family and sexual violence.Willow-Jean Prime: How will the increases to benefits announced in Budget 2021 impact women?Hon JAN TINETTI: We know that 83 percent of sole parents are women and 90 percent of the recipients of sole parent support are women. The changes made through Budget 2021 mean for a single mum on the sole parent benefit she will have received the 22 percent increase in her main benefit under Labour since 2017. The Government has also extended the training incentive allowance of which 86 percent of recipients are women. In addition the 3000 extra places for children in childcare plus increases in childcare assistance will help about 900 low-income parents to remain or transition into employment training and education and many of these parents will be women.Willow-Jean Prime: How else has the Government delivered for women following the COVID-19 pandemic?Hon JAN TINETTI: During New Zealand's peak of the COVID-19 pandemic a gap emerged between men's and women's unemployment rates. We have now closed that gap and unemployment between men and women is equal. In real terms that means in the March quarter there have been an additional 14000 more women in work compared to the previous quarter. Pre - COVID-19 only 14 percent of apprenticeships were held by women and just 3.2 percent of all building and construction apprenticeships were women. The Apprenticeship Boost has contributed to a 30 percent increase in women taking up apprenticeships during 2020. This is a Government that is committed to gender equality. The COVID-19 economic recovery plan combined with the delivery of Budget 2021 demonstrates that.
4. Question No. 4—Energy and ResourcesRACHEL BROOKING (Labour) to the Minister of Energy and ResourcesQuestion No. 4—Energy and Resources4. RACHEL BROOKING (Labour) to the Minister of Energy and Resources: How is Budget 2021 supporting the roll-out of heating and insulation to make Kiwi homes warmer? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Energy and Resources): We're continuing our investment in the health and wellbeing of New Zealanders through an extension of the Warmer Kiwi Homes programme in Budget 2021. We are funding the success of the Warmer Kiwi Homes programme which has to date delivered around 62000 insulation and heating retrofits by investing an additional $120 million over two years to install insulation and heating retrofits for a further 47700 homes. Tens of thousands more lower-income Kiwi families will benefit from better health and lower power bills as a direct result of the Government's ongoing investment into warm dry homes. Rachel Brooking: How will the extension of this programme result in better health outcomes for New Zealanders? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: We know that the poor quality of some of New Zealand's housing stock has led to an unacceptable amount of avoidable hospitalisations linked to cold damp and mouldy houses. In 2011 a Motu study on the benefits of insulation found that the benefit-cost ratio was $4.66 for every $1 spent in comfort and wellbeing. It is my intention to update this study to also look at the impact of heat pumps under the programme which were introduced in 2019. Rachel Brooking: How many jobs will be supported by the Warmer Kiwi Homes programme? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: The Warmer Kiwi Homes programme has been hugely successful not only for grant recipients but for enabling service providers to continue delivering installation. It is estimated that the Warmer Kiwi Homes programme will support up to 600 jobs in the energy services sector.
2. Question No. 2—Housing (Public Housing)CHLÖE SWARBRICK (Green—Auckland Central) to the Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing)Question No. 2—Housing (Public Housing)2. CHLÖE SWARBRICK (Green—Auckland Central) to the Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing): Does she agree with the statement in the Labour Party's 2020 manifesto that it will regulate property managers to protect landlords and tenants"; if so what action will the Government take in response?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing) on behalf of the Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing): In answer to the first part of the member's question yes. In answer to the second part of the member's question the Government intends to deliver on this manifesto commitment over this three-year term of Government.Chlöe Swarbrick: When will the Government regulate property managers?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: On behalf of the Minister: as I said in answer to the primary it is our intention to do this in this term of Government. The work has already begun on this work stream. In late 2020 and in early 2021 officials started engaging with the property management and tenancy sector stakeholders and in March 2021 the Minister met with relevant stakeholders. So this work stream has begun.Chlöe Swarbrick: Will regulation in property managers include a mandatory code of conduct with sanctions if the code is broken; if not why not?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: On behalf of the Minister: as I said we've begun this piece of work and we are engaging stakeholders and this will be rolled out over this term of Government. As a starting point we are committed to ensuring that property managers comply with a mandatory code of conduct—so that is something that we are looking at—be part of a licensing regime meet a good-character test and follow a framework that allows tenants and landlords to resolve any issues.Chlöe Swarbrick: Will regulation of property managers give the Tenancy Tribunal new powers to investigate alleged breaches of the law across the property manager's whole property portfolio rather than restricting it to a specific individual tenancy; if not why not?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: On behalf of the Minister: as I said that work has begun. I'm not sure if that level of detail has been got into yet. I invite the member to put that question in writing.Chlöe Swarbrick: Does the Government have an accurate record of how many property managers and landlords there are in New Zealand and if so how many?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: On behalf of the Minister: one of the issues of course that we have is because the sector is unregulated there is no accurate data on how many property managers there are or how many properties they actually manage. Rental bond data that is held by Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment gives us some insight and shows that at 5 November 2020 2104 property managers had lodged bonds for about 42 percent of rental properties. But these are conservative estimates and of course part of the work we are doing is so we can have data such as the member is asking about."
1. Question No. 1—FinanceDr DUNCAN WEBB (Labour—Christchurch Central) to the Minister of FinanceORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No. 1—Finance1. Dr DUNCAN WEBB (Labour—Christchurch Central) to the Minister of Finance: Talofa lava Mr Speaker. What recent reports has he seen on the New Zealand economy?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Fa'afetai tele lava. The ANZ bank's latest Quarterly Economic Outlook which was released yesterday noted that the New Zealand economy is well on the way to recovery". The bank's economic team said it was surprising to be able to say this so early and that going into the crisis every economic forecaster was expecting a large drawn-out recession with a possibility of deflation a 10 percent unemployment rate and an economy that would struggle to get back to pre-COVID levels of output. The bank acknowledges that the policy response to COVID to eliminate the virus has meant that New Zealanders have spent the last 12 months living relatively normally. Compared with other countries that did not control the virus ANZ notes that New Zealand's health outcomes have been better which has allowed the country to come out of lockdown much sooner and has in turn led to a more advanced recovery in New Zealand than in most of our trading partners.Dr Duncan Webb: What else did this report say about the impact of the Government's policies on New Zealand's economic outlook?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Well the ANZ report noted "The focus of Government policy on keeping workers attached to their jobs has also been a key pillar of [our] relatively good economic outcomes." We've seen employment in New Zealand increase above pre-COVID levels in recent months. The ANZ reports that New Zealand's labour market is far closer to full employment than anyone could have hoped for. Nevertheless the recovery in the labour market does remain uneven and this is why the Government has invested heavily in trades training and apprenticeship schemes as well as expanding the Flexi-wage programme and also in Budget 2021 extending the Training Incentive Allowance to support 16000 New Zealanders into work.Dr Duncan Webb: What other reports has he seen on the economy?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Securing the recovery is also being supported by a number of other sectors. Statistics New Zealand reported yesterday that building consents issued for new homes hit a record high of 42848 in the year to April 2021 and this overtook the previous annual high set in March 2021 which in turn bettered the previous record that was set in 1974. Building consents for new homes in the year to April 2021 have now risen 41 percent or by more than 12000 compared with 2017.SPEAKER: Order! Before I call on the next question I'm just going to remind Marja Lubeck that she's sitting a lot closer both to the Minister's mikes and to my mikes than she was previously and her energetic interventions are sort of echoing a bit."
Health (National Cervical Screening Programme) Amendment Bill — Second Reading
Walters VanushiVANUSHI WALTERS (Labour—Upper Harbour): Talofa lava Madam Speaker and thank you for the opportunity to take a very brief call in relation to the Health (National Cervical Screening Programme) Amendment Bill. I am not a member of the select committee who considered this bill but it is a huge privilege to speak briefly in its favour. I just wanted to begin by commending the work of Minister Verrall for shepherding this bill through the House. As the previous speaker mentioned a lot of has already been traversed about the bill and as I was listening to speakers I was thinking back on a quote I heard from a cancer survivor who said Life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we react to it." I suspect that many people in this House know of and have had family members or friends who have lived with or passed from cancer. And there is a lot of truth to that quote. There's a lot of profound courage and love and strength that comes from those survivors. But it's my view that life is also about learning and doing a service to that strength and courage and really looking at the systems that we have in place in terms of providing cancer services to ensure that when people are fighting some of the most difficult battles of their lives before they go on to those battlegrounds we're providing them with the best odds possible and that for me is what this bill is about. This is a bill that's about saving lives. My colleagues have quoted the number of women who are diagnosed every year and the approximately 50 who die from it—and this is really an avoidable tragedy at the end of the day. I just wanted to note very briefly some of the stats that I saw from the 2017 National Screening Unit which said at the time that there were 63.7 percent of Asian women who were screened—so under what the target was which at the time was around 80 percent and the changes made in this bill will really go towards addressing that. This bill is important as it will explicitly allow the people providing community-based services as my colleagues have said to be able to look up access to the register so that they can perform their work as easily as possible. I do think this is one step in terms of what we need to do. I referenced the numbers for Asian women who get screened or rather those who don't and I do think that there are a number of steps we need to also take in terms of addressing the culture of women feeling comfortable across all cultures to go and get screened proactively to take away some of that stigma. I commend this bill to the House."
Stanford EricaERICA STANFORD (National—East Coast Bays): Thank you Madam Speaker. I'm pleased to take what will be a very short contribution. I spoke on this bill back in 2018 at first reading and I remember a couple of things. Firstly it was the Hon Jonathan Coleman who spoke for us—that's how long ago this was—at first reading. He opened I believe. Then I do also recall congratulating Julie Anne Genter for bringing this bill to the House and also on her pregnancy I believe and here we are again. So congratulations Julie Anne Genter on your second pregnancy. That's how long we've taken to bring this bill back.Look I think that what needs to have been said has already been said by previous speakers especially on this side of the House—the very capable Dr Shane Reti and also Penny Simmonds who has taken up a role on the Health Committee very ably. And we have sort of digressed I think into conversations about who remembers when they got their last fax which was quite amusing. I remember the last time we got a fax was from my father in a Boeing 747 30000 feet above the Pacific telling us he'd left the water on in the glasshouse. You used to be able to send faxes from airlines in the cockpit.Anyway when I do remember speaking on this bill early on just the disbelief that it was still the case that doctors had to firstly ring up a registry to get results and also rely on the use of a fax. But the bad thing about that was it often meant that maybe they wouldn't do that and then would potentially do the test in a different way which wouldn't get the results that they needed if a woman had had a previous result that meant that a different type of test needed to be carried out. So that's potentially quite dangerous.So this really is a very small technical bill that does a lot of good things dragging us into this century and allowing those practitioners to dial straight into the registry and get the information that they need. It's going to improve women's health and I commend this bill to the House.
van Velden BrookeBROOKE VAN VELDEN (Deputy Leader—ACT): Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise on behalf of the ACT Party in support of the Health (National Cervical Screening Programme) Amendment Bill at the second reading because we believe that the amendments would provide our healthcare professionals with even better tools than they currently have through enabling improved accessibility to the National Cervical Screening Programme register and significantly streamline the process.For context—and I can't believe that I'm saying this—our current system uses faxes. You know there is an entire generation of health practitioners coming through the system coming through college now in the workforce who probably should never have used a fax. I have never used a fax. I can't believe that people are being trained up to be using near-obsolete technology. So this amendment is about enabling our health professionals to access the National Cervical Screening Programme register without going through that whole rigmarole of the current process the fax process.It's deeply concerning that health practitioners who take smear tests whose job it is to provide services to our patients along a cervical-screening pathway are forced to go through such an outdated and obsolete programme. Unfortunately that's just one way that shows the inefficiencies in our healthcare system. We have to acknowledge that the problem here is not with the health professionals. Our nurses and our doctors do a great job helping New Zealanders with their healthcare needs. It's just a massive flaw in a system that they're having to do it with such outdated technology.I do admire the work that our health practitioners are doing to make sure that New Zealanders can get the care that they need but we also have to admit that data efficiency and accessibility in healthcare is extremely important to make sure that people can get the care that they need in a timely fashion and especially when it concerns issues such as cancer because being able to directly access data on a patient's screening history actually impacts how quickly people can get the care that they need and how quickly a smear can be carried out.While we believe that this bill would make an important and necessary change in the short term we also think as the ACT Party that there needs to be longer-term thinking from this Government and we actually believe that the outdated IT infrastructure is of huge concern in New Zealand. I mean we've just seen the Waikato DHB issue and we had reports in 2019 and 2020 that showed that our DHBs don't have the necessary data technology and security to make sure that they are protected from cyber-attacks.We actually want to be committed to a modern healthcare system which empowers New Zealanders. We should be able to keep people's information safe but importantly acknowledge that a lot of this problem is down to outdated technology just like this is with faxes. So we believe in streamlining our bureaucratic healthcare system reducing overheads making better use of technology ensuring better integration of our healthcare system and focusing on patient outcomes and so I commend this bill to the House.
Dean JacquiASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The House is resumed. When the House rose for the dinner break we were commencing the second reading of the Fair Trading Amendment Bill and the next call goes to National.
Shaw JamesHon JAMES SHAW (Minister of Climate Change): Thank you Madam Speaker. The Green Party supports the referral motion. I just wanted to pick up on a couple of points that the previous speaker Simon Court made. He talked about the rush" to low-sulphur fuels. It's a rush that has so far taken 25 years to get to this point given that MARPOL VI was agreed to in I think 1996! I think it came into effect in 2002 and we started work on it in this Government at the end of 2017 beginning of 2018. It's still taken even with a Government that actually said "OK let's get into this thing" nearly four years to get to this point. So I would say we're hardly rushing into this given that that is most of my colleague's life to get here.I would also say when you look at the weight of submissions there were only 48 and that somehow it took two years to process. Forty-four of those submissions I think were in favour of the transition and those were from the industry itself. So what that suggests is that this is an entirely non-controversial process. It is clearly carefully considered given that it's taken us 25 years to think about it so far! I don't think it's the kind of thing that's going to take an enormous amount of time from the select committee to have to go out and ask all of the same questions that the Ministry of Transport has already asked many times over in workshops and in submissions processes and so on and so forth. Therefore we do support the referral motion. Let's get this done finally. It's time to put this thing to bed."
Court SimonSIMON COURT (ACT): The member Christopher Luxon has raised some valid justifications as to why a shortened or truncated period at select committee is unacceptable. I've had advice today from stakeholders that this is a rush to a low sulphur fuel. The case has been made last night that actually it's not a rush because the treaty was signed some time in the 1990s. However we're talking about New Zealand here a couple of dozen ships many which rely on the fuel that's currently available and manufactured by the refining company in New Zealand and will have no choice but to switch to—essentially—diesel at two to three times the price. So at a time when the supply chains are under pressure where our manufacturers and importers are under pressure and there's a risk of all of those costs passing through into the economy—we're talking about transport bulk cement and bulk solvents and other chemicals around New Zealand as well as transporting containers and other goods up to the Pacific Islands. All of these shipping companies will be at risk of increased cost pressures that flow through to the wider economy.Now it's clear that New Zealand is about to face a very uncertain energy future. Many of this Government's policies have been announced on the hoof potentially by mistake later backside-covering exercises involving working groups to try to justify decisions taken on the hoof. It seems unreasonable—given all of the risks raised by the shipping industry by the fuel suppliers by the refinery even by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that pointed out New Zealand is woefully short of the strategic petroleum reserves that the IEA requires its member countries to have those 90 days of storage that New Zealand doesn't have—that all we are currently holding are IOUs that we might go begging around the world for a few ships to come and save us in the event that we face a supply problem here in New Zealand. It's not acceptable to refer this bill to select committee for a shortened period of submission and consideration when all of these risks are coming through this very narrow point at one time and the solutions for them—while they might be available are not available soon and they're not available without cost. So it is for that reason that the ACT Party does not support this truncated and shortened period at select committee and for submissions. In fact we think in this case the full period should be allocated to hear from submitters to hear from stakeholders and to give the industry—as well as Government—time to come up with solutions to come up with these important environmental objectives.
Luxon ChristopherCHRISTOPHER LUXON (National—Botany): Look National doesn't support the referral motion and it's very simple: because we're not following due process and there's no really compelling justification for it. The first thing that the Minister's talked about is that you know we've got a requirement under MARPOL legislation to get it there on time. Well the question is: why didn't you bring it to the House earlier? If you thought it was that important why hasn't it been done earlier? It just feels lazy shambolic—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Not me.CHRISTOPHER LUXON: —sorry why didn't the Minister bring it to the House earlier so we could actually discuss it in time if that's the case? I thought James Shaw made a very articulate speech last night and he talked about the urgency around climate change. But we declared a climate emergency; it could have been done the very next day. This legislation should have been done under urgency if we thought it was that important as a result.So we oppose it because now this is the 34th bill that's been coming to this House since this Government came to power that's been under four months in terms of time for us to go through the process and I think that's the key issue. So we don't think there's an adequate reason. We just think it's sloppy and lazy and shambolic as to why it's come here so late. If we believe it's so fundamental then why wasn't it done under urgency? It's just becoming a practice and a habit that we don't fundamentally think is good for debate in this House.I have to say we know the key issue with this Government is fundamentally implementation. We know execution is their enemy. Now this Minister's probably better than the one that delivered the oil and gas ban but we now deliver an oil and gas ban we don't follow through on execution we import Indonesian coal and our emissions are up. So we really want to make sure that when we go into understanding—you know we need to be reassured given that track record given this thing is being done with a truncated process that we actually do answer some specific questions like: what fuel will be available in New Zealand—low sulphur fuel? Who will it be available for? Where will it be available and in what bunker port?So I think we need time from the officials to understand some of those questions and again we see no justification and again we're going against due process. We can't work out why we're doing it this way.
Mallard TrevorPETITIONS PAPERS SELECT COMMITTEE REPORTS AND INTRODUCTION OF BILLSSPEAKER: No papers have been presented no bills have been introduced. Petitions have been delivered to the Clerk for presentation.CLERK: Petition of Sarah Rowland on behalf of New Zealand Eating Disorders Carer Support requesting that the House urge the Government to ensure that the new Dunedin Hospital has a specialist paediatric facility to treat eating disorders provide more specialist facilities nationally and enable a national body for treatment standards petition of Margaret Brough requesting that the House urge the Government to reconsider the location of the proposed National Erebus Memorial and note that 12000 people have signed a petition to prevent it being located at Dove Myer Robinson Park.SPEAKER: Those petitions stand referred to the Petitions Committee. A select committee report has been delivered for presentation.CLERK: Report of the Finance and Expenditure Committee on the Controller and Auditor-General Draft annual plan 2021/22.SPEAKER: That report is set down for consideration.
Mallard Trevor; Edmonds BarbaraWEDNESDAY 2 JUNE 2021The Speaker took the Chair at 2 p.m.KARAKIA/PRAYERSSPEAKER: Talofa lava members. I've asked Barbara Edmonds to say the prayer in Samoan today.BARBARA EDMONDS (Labour—Mana): Tatou ifo ma tatalo. Le Atua silisili ese matou te sulaina lou alofa ma lou agalelei ona o tofiga ua e valaauina ia i matou. Matou fiafia foi e taʻutino lo matou amanaiaina o le Tupu Tamaitai o Peretania. O la matou tatalo alofa ma taitai ia matou felafolafoaiga uma ina ia faia i le loto maualalo ma le faamaoni ia matou faaiuga i totonu o lenei Maota Fono. Faamanuia i Taitai o le Faigamalo ina ia maua le tofamamao ma le loto maualalo e taitai lou atunuu i le manuia ma le filemu. I le suafa o Iesu Keriso Amene.
Tuesday 1 June 2021 - Volume 752
12. Question No. 12—PoliceSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga) to the Minister of PoliceQuestion No. 12—Police12. SIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga) to the Minister of Police: What are the measures of success if any for Operation Tauwhiro and is she confident Operation Tauwhiro has been successful in reducing gang violence?Hon POTO WILLIAMS (Minister of Police): Fa'afetai tele lava. As I said in my answer to question No. 11 on 4 May the measures of success include: to sustainably reduce the prevalence of violence by gangs and organised crime particularly that involving the use of firearms; to remove access to illicit firearms from gangs and organised crime groups; and to hold offenders to account. In my answer on 4 May I also provided an update on the progress of Operation Tauwhiro so far. As at 20 May I can tell this House that police have seized 522 firearms seized $2.67 million in cash arrested 476 people seized 9.5 kilograms of methamphetamine and conducted 361 search warrants.Simeon Brown: Does she consider Operation Tauwhiro to be a successful deterrent for gang violence when hundreds of gang members turned State Highway 2 into their own personal highway last week?Hon POTO WILLIAMS: I note that police will not tolerate this type of behaviour on our roads and offenders will be held to account. I understand the police made a number of asset seizures from attendees of that tangi and multiple arrests. Police will continue to investigate and take actions against those identified as being responsible for any offending.Simeon Brown: As part of her oversight of Operation Tauwhiro will she rule out meeting with gangs and gang members and if not why not?Hon POTO WILLIAMS: I have no intention of meeting with gang members at this stage.