Lubeck MarjaMARJA LUBECK (Labour): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's a real privilege to be able to stand here and take the final call in the third reading of the Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Bill.First of all I would like to commend everyone who has worked on the progress of this bill and especially of course my good friend and colleague the Hon Dr Deborah Russell who had the good fortune to have a great bill drawn out of the tin but then entrusted me with the final stages of getting this bill through the House in its last stage.It's also my good fortune to stand here today because it's a double celebration: it is my birthday. So may I take the opportunity to extend a shout-out to my parents and say: meeting you has been the best moment of my life.It was a real privilege to chair the Education and Workforce Committee at the time when they had to consider the 43 submissions on this bill. This bill took slightly longer to go through the House because there was the need to go to a recommittal stage and clarify the need for some transitional provisions through a Supplementary Order Paper. That was necessary to make it clear that there was no need for employers to update every single existing employment agreement to comply with the new law.So the previous speaker has already explained what this bill does: it makes a minor change to the Employment Relations Act. But while it's minor on paper it has the potential to be very significant for people who otherwise would not complain. The problem that this bill deals with is that in the current situation an employee who wishes to raise a personal grievance with allegations of sexual harassment has a time period of 90 days to do so and this particular bill extends that to 12 months as has been explained. The previous speaker Paul Goldsmith explained really well I think what that process of a personal grievance is.The change that this bill makes acknowledges that a period of 90 days to raise a grievance is not really reflective of the way sexual harassment plays out in practice and that was a point that was made very well by many of our submitters and in particular also by Simon Schofield a former member of the Auckland District Law Society Employment Law Committee who teaches employment law at the University of Auckland. Extending the time recognises the special nature of sexual harassment. The Hon Dr Deborah Russell spoke about it in her second reading speech and I would like to actually quote her. What she said is that The reason [sexual harassment] can be traumatising is because the person who experiences it is disregarded … treated as an object and is treated as being of no worth—or if they have worth it is only their sexual value that matters." I think that really puts a very fine point on that matter.I join other members of this House who have spoken of personal experiences. People spoke about how they remembered exactly what they were wearing where they were what was being said and they remember still even if it's many many years later how it made them feel. I too remember a time really clearly where I was made to feel very uncomfortable disrespected and powerless by the sexual innuendo of a senior co-worker. It was a long time ago but exactly like previous speakers have said you still remember exactly what was said. There was no physical behaviour in any way and it was almost like a throwaway comment for the person who probably thought it was a funny joke they were making but it actually made me feel really bad. This incident happened many years before there was even a Me Too movement and perhaps it happened because at that time that sort of behaviour was almost normalised but it is not OK. My colleague Helen White spoke about it in her contribution very eloquently. She said: "[the need] to examine some of the damage that we do to people when we do things we think are innocent but are not. They hurt people." So it's really good to see that there is a changing attitude to this issue. It's clearly reflected in the very respectful and bipartisan way that this bill has gone through the House. That's really important because to achieve lasting cultural change there needs to be a collective ownership of the need to change culture and attitudes and to establish common values. We all have a right to feel respected in a workplace.But this bill is also important in light of gender equality. With the worldwide backlash against women's sexual and reproductive health and rights gender equality is being eroded. There is a long road ahead to achieve gender equality. The time to act and invest in women and girls is now.As I said previously this bill makes a small improvement but it has large implications. So I would like to finish my contribution by thanking all of those who worked on this bill all the parties around the Education and Workforce Committee for their very collaborative approach. I acknowledge as many others have Zoë Lawton for her relentless advocacy for a change in the law and bringing this matter to the attention of the Hon Dr Deborah Russell who took the work forward. I thank my colleagues around the House for what Mr Speaker earlier in this debate referred to as collegial lawmaking. Most importantly immense thanks must go to all those who courageously shared their stories to make sure that the voices of the victims were heard. It is good to see that it is not only the 50 percent of women in this House of Representatives that support this bill but it actually has unanimous support. So I'm happy and proud to commend this bill to the House. Thank you Mr Speaker. Motion agreed to.Bill read a third time."