Bradford Sue: Social Workers Registration Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Bradford Sue: Social Workers Registration Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:607;Page:4857] 
SUE BRADFORD (Green) 
: 
 The Social Workers Registration Bill we are dealing with today is one of those unfortunate pieces of legislation that have been left to languish on the Order Paper for far too long. We first debated this issue in Parliament in October 2001 and the Social Services Committee reported back to the House almost exactly a year ago to the day in April 2002. In the meantime the professional organisation for social workers the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers has grown quite concerned about the delay. The association has been worried that the original impetus that led to the bill’s development may be lost and that hold-ups in getting the bill passed may slow down the positive but extensive processes that will be needed to ensure that adequate systems protocols personnel requirements and so on are in place to ensure that the bill is implemented successfully and in a timely way. 
The association also sees it as critical that the Social Workers Registration Bill is implemented before the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Bill as my colleague mentioned earlier so that the professional standing of social workers within the health sector is assured prior to their inclusion in that much broader legislation in terms of the health workforce. For these reasons I am delighted that this bill is finally before the House and I can assure all concerned that the Green Party will continue to support strongly the long-overdue establishment of a regulatory framework for social workers across all sectors in New Zealand. 
I sat on the Social Services Committee that heard submissions on this bill during the last term of Parliament and was impressed by the overwhelming support for registration from all manner of groups and individuals not just those with the most direct stake in the bill. However by the end of the process the Green Party was left with one or two reservations about where the bill had got to. Firstly we felt that in order to enhance the quality of social work the bill should reflect a commitment by the Government to work towards the mandatory registration of all social workers within an agreed and specified time frame. We were looking at 10 years. We supported the submissions of the Association of Social Workers and others who called for the registration board to be granted sufficient authority to require eventual compliance from all employers in the public community and private sectors to employ only registered social workers. We do understand the arguments presented by the Government and others that the costs of compliance with compulsory registration will be organisationally very high—and that is not looking just at money—and that it will take time. But at the same time we believe that 10 years should be long enough and is a goal worth aiming for specifically in the legislation rather than our leaving it up to later reviews of the Act. 
The second reservation we had with regard to the bill was that it lacks specific reference to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and explicit acknowledgment of the obligations of the Crown as called for by a number of key submitters. However after learning that groups such as the Association of Social Workers have accepted with reluctance the omission of Te Tiriti o Waitangi from the bill we did not feel able to pursue this matter without community backing and join with the association in hoping that it will be looked at closely as part of the first review 3 years after enactment. The Green Party was also pleased that the select committee in its deliberations did agree to recommend changes to the bill that will clarify provisions for Maori as distinct from Pacific Island peoples and other ethnic groups and that the Social Workers Registration Board will be required to maintain mechanisms such as advisory committees or separate caucuses with the goal of ensuring that the views of tangata whenua will be available and will be heard. 
Overall we look forward to the passing of this bill and the much-needed enhancement of the social work profession that it encompasses.