Henderson EmilyDr EMILY HENDERSON (Labour—Whangārei): I thank you for your forbearance in my misgendering you Madam Speaker. I rise in support of this bill and I want to tautoko what my colleague has just said. Our support of this bill to select committee stage is about not playing politics for politics' sake and I commend the work of our chair Ginny Andersen in the Justice Committee and I know that the committee will give this the appropriate attention because an idea that is reasonable should be explored. I speak to this as a practising lawyer in my past life and as the daughter of a lawyer. I was raised in a legal tradition that puts a great deal of emphasis on pro bono legal work. It is a longstanding tradition of the legal profession that we volunteer our time for others. In fact I would just want to bend the House's ear for a short moment with a little bit of legal history. Back in the Middle Ages when barristers first appeared—Chris Bishop: Bit of history.Dr EMILY HENDERSON: I told you it was going to be history Mr Bishop. Back in the Middle Ages when lawyers first appeared you had two sorts. You had the barristers and you had the solicitors. Now the solicitors were essentially educated clerks. They were performing technical work. The barristers were essentially people of independent income who were there in the courts to assist those less fortunate than themselves. And that is why it wasn't until early last century that we started to admit that barristers got paid because the whole point of being a barrister was that you did it for an honorarium—essentially for koha. That is actually why in the gowns that lawyers wear there is a long cord at the back with a small pocket at the end of it and the idea was you threw your cord over your back and hopefully the client might pop a little koha in the bottom. But you did it for access to justice. And that spirit despite the fact that now we have a fused bar and we are barristers and solicitors—most of us around the world in Commonwealth traditions. Despite the fact we are now most of us practising as barristers and solicitors that tradition of community service of public service pro bono remains. And that is the tradition in which I was raised as a lawyer. But it is a tough tradition.It is tough particularly when you consider what has happened to some of our courts and the way they were squeezed by the National Government. As a Family Court lawyer I particularly find a sense of irony that we are being asked by Mr Bishop and his party to support the increase in volunteerism by lawyers—which is a fine tradition all lawyers hold it very close to their heart—by the party who gutted my beloved Family Court. I have just come into this House from conducting a study of lawyers' opinions about the practice of the Family Court. In particular from answering one of the major criticisms of the Family Court lawyer which was the genesis of the 2014 reforms it was to stigmatise lawyers as the cause of problems as instigators of issues. And for that reason we were removed in the first instance from assisting clients and legal aid was slashed. That resulted in a massive upswing in the numbers of self-represented litigants and it represented a massive upswing in the delays before the Family Court because they were denied the reality of legal service which is that we are overwhelmingly the people who reduce dispute. It is so in study after study internationally.So while I am absolutely recommending that this bill go to select committee and be given all the scrutiny it needs and I absolutely tautoko my colleagues in saying that the New Zealand Law Society needs to come before us and talk to us about the controls that need to be put in place I do find it ironic—I do find it ironic to have to stand here. I am pleased to stand here because we need to start to support the Family Court again. And that is why I'm proud to be part of a Government that put $62 million into the Family Court. I am proud to be part of a Government that put $40.9 million into legal aid. I am proud to be part of a Government that put $1.7 million into community law. And I commend this bill to the House to select committee stage. Thank you.