Logie Jan; Dean JacquiJAN LOGIE (Green): Thank you Madam Speaker. What fantastic unanimity across this House in support of this very simple bill. In conclusion I want to specifically acknowledge—we don't usually acknowledge when members are not present. But these are unusual circumstances so I do particularly want to do a shout-out to Ricardo Menéndez March—noting for people that there's three syllables in the Menéndez" for future reference—but also to acknowledge that he chose for me to give this speech on his behalf because he wanted to see this piece of legislation come into law faster. He put his ego second to prioritise the needs of the community and I think that's worth acknowledging. It's a special thing to get a bill drawn from the House and to have the mojo to do that and to put that aside and let somebody else do the first speech I think is awesome.Also I know he wanted me to acknowledge all of the staff and volunteers working in the organisations who are certifying our disability assist dogs. That is a wonderful effort and they play a really vital role in our community. I also want to acknowledge the fact that now that we have such unanimous support across the House I'm going to anticipate the passing of this bill and acknowledge that this will be the second piece of legislation that Mojo Mathers drafted and then saw through into law with the first being the election access bill and to me it's a real power of lived experience and people holding that lived experience proudly in their work as a representative in this House. I want to acknowledge her for that and encourage all of us to do more of that kind of work.What Mojo said five years ago resonates today still: there's a long way to go to ensure the decisions made in this House help create a truly accessible society. Disabled people continue rightfully protesting outside this Chamber for better representation and outcomes. Only a few months ago we had the hīkoi for hope where campaigners called for an independent body to be established to advise the Government on policy through a disability lens. Dr Huhana Hickey explained why she was calling for that saying "Give us the power to make the decisions in our lives and let us drive what's safe and what's right." So really that feels to me to be consistent with the thrust of this bill and I hope that people with lived experience of having disability assist dogs will come in and submit on this legislation and help us make this as strong as possible.I will note the enthusiasm in the House for having more dogs around the place—enthusiasm while being a cat person I also share for the dogs in this House. But I would remind those who may be watching and may not be familiar with disability assist dogs: not being pets we really should not be talking to them or patting them when they are working. They are work animals at that time and we do have to hold ourselves back.I also just want to acknowledge while we do not have anybody in the gallery today—and I know that there would've been people here if circumstances had been different. But within the parliamentary precincts I know somebody—Joe Boon—has come in with his disability assist dog and he is watching this speech in this House and has been supporting the progress of this bill right from the inception. I want to acknowledge how much this means to people who are affected. I look forward to this passing as it moves smoothly through the House and also to seeing all the support that we've had this afternoon also translate into support for a much braver agenda to ensure the rights of all disabled people in Aotearoa New Zealand.Bill read a first time.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The question is That the Human Rights (Disability Assist Dogs Non-Discrimination) Amendment Bill be considered by the Social Services and Community Committee.Motion agreed to.Bill referred to the Social Services and Community Committee."