Parmar Parmjeet: Public Collections and Solicitations (Disclosure of Payment) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeParmar Parmjeet: Public Collections and Solicitations (Disclosure of Payment) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 12 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5773. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr PARMJEET PARMAR (National): Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this bill in the name of Matt Doocey. I am very happy to take this call in support of this bill and I congratulate my colleague Matt Doocey on having his bill drawn from the ballot.The Public Collections and Solicitations (Disclosure of Payment) Bill requires anyone collecting signatures subscriptions or donations in public places if collecting for organisations other than registered charities to disclose if they are being paid to do that activity. If they do not disclose then they can be fined up to $1000.When I see people collecting donations signatures or subscriptions in a public place it does not cross my mind straight away that they could be being paid. Then later on finding out that they were being paid gives the feeling of being misled. If it is about some kind of donation then you know straight away that the entirety of that donation is not going to go to the cause you donated it to. If you signed for something then you know that the person who convinced you to sign was doing it for some extra income and does not actually believe in the cause behind the collection of those signatures.This bill will not affect organisations or people who recruit volunteers and that is fair because it means that they are recruiting people who are available to give their time and put effort into the cause that the organisation is trying to benefit.Often there is a lack of passion when people are paid to do such activities as collecting signatures donations or subscriptions in public places. For them the incentive is just their own monetary gain. They are not required to believe in the cause. The impression that a signature collector is a volunteer is a common one. When there are quite a few people doing that activity collecting signatures or donations it gives a misleading impression that there is a lot of interest in that activity. Those people who are collecting signatures and donations stop people who are walking past and try to convince them to donate so in a way they are paid campaigners.This bill is about bringing transparency to the process. Registered charities are not required to make this disclosure. They are already required to include information about their income and expenses with their annual returns for all of the different parts of the charity. That is why they are not required to disclose whether people collecting donations for them are paid or not paid. Also collecting donations for registered charities in public places is quite a common channel and this is quite an acceptable manner for us as well. The people who work for these charities feel connected and passionate about them. A general observation is that the people who are paid to collect signatures or donations are normally aggressive because they have some targets to be met compared with volunteers. They want to earn more. This can actually create the impression among people about all those who collect signatures and donations and then maybe people do not want to stop and talk to people collecting donations because they do not want to face their aggressive approach.I recognise and highly value the significant contribution that our charitable and voluntary sector makes. These entities range from the Cancer Society of New Zealand and the Neurological Foundation of New Zealand to different sports clubs. A very close member of my family has been a volunteer for the Cancer Society of New Zealand for more than 20 years. There is no pressure on him. He does it when he can get away from work and he does it because he really believes in helping people. He likes to help people who are suffering from cancer. But what happens with a mix of people those who are paid and those who are not paid is that it is very hard to identify and know who is paid and who is not paid in that mix.This bill is about improving transparency and putting a disclosure mechanism in place for the public. Currently there is no such rule to have this kind of disclosure if people are being paid to collect donations signatures or subscriptions. This bill will give more confidence to the people—