Sepuloni CarmelHon CARMEL SEPULONI (Labour—Kelston): With regard to the amendment to two years we're not going to be able to support that. I do want to put on record the correspondence that both the Minister and I have received from the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers regarding this matter. It is important that the committee is aware so that when we vote on this particular amendment we do that equipped with the information from the professional body.Directly from the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers we've heard in the past week via email—myself and the Minister for Social Development and Employment—that their previous chief executive prepared and presented a submission to the select committee arguing for a two-year extension to the S13 experience pathway to social work rather than the four years as agreed by their other sector partners. I quote: I did try to have our submission removed and adjusted from the select committee process but the email did not get passed on to the appropriate people. I did not follow it up which is unfortunate. I have been in touch with Miriama Scott from the Tangata Whenua Social Workers Association to affirm our collective position of supporting the extension of four years to 27 February 2028. The Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers supports the sector position that an extension of four years provides time for the Social Workers Registration Board alongside the Ministry of Social Development and the sector to consider the longer-term options for entry into social work which is in crucial need. The Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers supports the training of more social workers which includes alternative pathways and for more culturally appropriate training to occur. We are very concerned with the low numbers of Māori and Pasifika social workers in the sector and note that there are many working with whānau hapū and iwi and in marae who would benefit from these alternative pathways to acknowledge their mahi and years of experience. We also acknowledge the skills and knowledge they bring to the sector and that many will in time engage in social work education programmes." The letter ends with: "Minister please accept my humble apologies for any confusion the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers' submission had caused with this very important kaupapa."So this is a last-minute plea from the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers and from the Tangata Whenua Social Workers Association to actually stick to the four-year time frame. They have made very clear that an unfortunate mistake was made in their submission that they tried to retract but were unable to and they wanted to put this on record so that we could basically stop the amendment to this legislation. Apart from the amendment the legislation itself as it stands I think is supported across the House. It is the right and fair thing to do. It is good for social workers in general but actually crucial for Aotearoa because we need to give time for people to take up this experience pathway. We do have a shortage of social workers. What we don't want to do is reduce that time and actually end up in a position where we have less-qualified registered Māori and Pacific social workers. I'm sure everyone in this House would agree that we need more Māori and Pacific social workers as well.So I would ask the Minister to reconsider that amendment. In fact I would ask the Minister to withdraw that amendment. I'd like to hear from the Minister her thoughts on the submission that has been made by email this week from the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers. If the Minister is not going to withdraw the amendment I really want to hear from the Minister why that is the case given that such a credible and informed submission has been made on this particular point. If the Minister is going to withdraw the amendment I'd also like to hear from the Minister because of course I'd like to hear her thought process and I want it confirmed that they're not going to go ahead with the reduction from four years to two years."