Kanongata'a-Suisuiki AnahilaANAHILA KANONGATA'A-SUISUIKI (Labour): Tēnā koe e Te Mana Whakawā. It is an absolute honour to be able to contribute to the Social Workers Registration Legislation Bill in its second reading. I want to acknowledge the leadership of the Minister for Social Development the Hon Carmel Sepuloni for championing this bill through the House.But before I get to that—most people today have referred to I know of social workers." "I know of cases." " I know of what—" "I know of what—". I have the social work registration number 1473—Hon Member: Yeah!ANAHILA KANONGATA'A-SUISUIKI: Yay—and I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge my lecturer in Auckland College of Education Robyn Corrigan who first introduced me to social work in my first year; also Shannon Pākura whose parents were caregivers when I was a social worker in Ōtāhuhu and she was also the Chief Social Worker at that time; and the managers here at Child Youth and Family now Oranga Tamariki.I want to bring a voice of insight from the field. Social work is a calling and it is based on values and ethics. The Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers has 11 principles which its members must abide by. But I want to just cover three points three of those principles because then I can go on to talk about the reasons why this bill is so important and that it is about time that this bill—as I acknowledged to the Minister it is about accountability to the ethics and value of our profession of social work.So the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers that I used to be a member of—I just want to say that my annual registration expired on 30 June 2018. My competency certificate does not expire until December 2019. Members of Parliament do not have a job description so the social workers registration board said to me "You are non-practising because there is no job description for members of Parliament so we cannot actually measure whether you actually do social work or not." So my official title—I'm listed as a non-practising social worker with a competency certificate that expires in December. OK let's just talk about those values. I'm going to have to read them because it's important that we all hear that in the House. One of the ethics and principles of the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers talks about "Upholds value of democracy and human rights." "Protects the client's integrity" "Recognises and accepts Māori as tangata whenua of Aotearoa and that the social worker's role is to achieve social justice for Māori at both a structural and individual level written within the spirit of Te Tiriti o Waitangi." Unfortunately Māori are the mainstream clients of Oranga Tamariki. The reason why I refer to that principle is because it is important when we say social workers are credible and they are fit to practice that they must be able to demonstrate that they can practise with a cultural component and the majority of that needs to be Māori the tangata whenua of this country.I'm not sure Mr Assistant Speaker whether this is a split call or am I speaking for 10 minutes? I just want to confirm— Hon Peeni Henare: Keep going until he says stop.ANAHILA KANONGATA'A-SUISUIKI: Keep going until he says—yeah OK. So one more minute; OK. So the Minister referred to—Hon Dr Megan Woods: It's a split call.ANAHILA KANONGATA'A-SUISUIKI: It's a split call. So the Minister referred to an acknowledgment of the cross-sector group the Social Work Alliance. We hear from the other side—they keep saying "Oh we need more time to hear from the people. We need more time. We need more time." Let me recall who exactly is in the Social Work Alliance: it is the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers Tangata Whenua Social Workers Association Careerforce it is the Council for Social Work Education Aotearoa New Zealand Social Services Providers of Aotearoa New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services District Health Boards Health Social Workers Leaders' Council ministry of Oranga Tamariki Social Workers Registration Board and New Zealand Public Service. I think those members actually represent the voices of people who bring the experience and the insight into the service that is for most of us people who refer to ourselves as social workers; it is a calling and it's a value-based profession.Anybody at the moment can call themselves a social worker—anybody can call themselves a social worker. But a person who's done a law degree at university cannot call themselves a lawyer unless they've gone through all their practising done the hours and time. The social work profession—I'll come to a close soon—to practise as a social worker it is never done in isolation. Social work is group work. I've come through the service as a social worker. I've been a social worker and in my role as social worker I've had supervisors who supervised and critiqued the decisions that I made. I've had practice leaders who actually look after social workers and supervisors to make sure that they're practising. All these people that are referred to within this bill are people who must be registered social workers all reading from the same hymn book and all singing from the same hymn book.I cannot wait—I cannot wait—for the debate of the committee of the whole House because it is important that we get this passed so that number one when we speak about the most vulnerable the people who make decisions about the most vulnerable children the people who make decisions about vulnerable parents and the people who make decisions about vulnerable communities are people who will call themselves social workers. We need to be accountable as country. It is about social justice. It is about human rights. People who have the honour—the honour—to serve and to service the people who are most vulnerable need to be accountable. Actually we need to be able to stand with our hand on our hearts and say "We have come up with this great process to make sure that they are actually following due diligence and being professional at their profession."I must conclude now but I just want to acknowledge all the people that work within the social work field people who go above and beyond. A social worker never ever works eight hours a day. A social worker goes well above and beyond their call of duty and I want to acknowledge the profession. People out there who call themselves social workers and say "Oh you know social work is easy work to do." It is not for everybody. I don't think that anybody here who comes across the ministry of Oranga Tamariki who somehow has not done a good job of being parents and has somebody at their door to take away their children because we've made an assessment that they're not safe to be in their care would want that person to actually have been sent by their peers by their profession if they are not actually capable of making those decisions. Mr Speaker that's it from me today social worker registration number 1473 who's not practising. Malo."