Watts Simon; Dean JacquiSIMON WATTS (National—North Shore): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. It is a pleasure to rise on behalf of National as the member of Parliament for North Shore on the Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlements Amendment Bill at its first reading.It's been interesting to listen to some of the background history in terms of where we've come from to be where we are today. The reality is that circumstances are what they are and at the time in which the decisions were made these decisions were made. In 2017 National supported a pay equity arrangement and committed to that multibillion-dollar care package supporting some of our most vulnerable workers in terms of care and support workers across our sectors. That equity settlement came into play at that point.We have traversed the conversations around where we are but the reality I think is that we are here under urgency—or we're about to be under urgency—in terms of putting through a bill which the Government has had five long years to avoid or mitigate or prepare for where we are today. And with just on seven days between now and when this bill will come into effect we are now out of options. We are out of potential mitigations in terms of what needs to be done and we're pushing through legislation to basically kick the ball a little bit further out for touch for 18 months. As a result of that we are where we are.National are supporting this bill and we're supporting it for the fundamental reason that we believe that these workers within our system do a huge amount of value. They contribute a significant amount to a wide range of New Zealanders particularly those as I've noted who are in vulnerable positions—many of our elderly and those within parts of our broader healthcare system. At a time when we're dealing with a workforce crisis with regards to those sectors the least we can do is ensure that those workers are supported in terms of the pay element they get.I think we've heard previous speakers acknowledge the scale of that pay and you know we are where we are and the concerns we're raising today are in regard to the process which has not been undertaken and why we are here today. The element that is so important and an element that will not be available is the fact that there is going to be no select committee process or no formal process in order for people to be able to contribute or provide feedback and that's a real great shame. I think that irrespective of where we stand the ability for voices to be heard the ability for Kiwis to be able to contribute in terms of our democracy is critically important. But in this instance that option is not going to be available. That is a great shame and it is something that could have been avoided had adequate planning been undertaken in advance—as I said: five years—so it's not as if we're under the pump in terms of pressure. But someone—or elements—has dropped the ball on this and this has all of a sudden come up and the Minister is hurrying to try and come up with a fix. And it's a quick fix and that is disappointment. But I think that is symptomatic of a broader way in which this Government is operating particularly in reform within the broader health system and I must say we're seeing it in the local government sector as well. It's the same old same old. It's a reactive response in terms of reform it's making it up on the fly and it is just causing a huge barrage of collateral damage out the back because of the simple fact that this isn't planned it isn't structured and it hasn't been done in a proactive manner.I think the other contributing factor no doubt is that those front-line teams have been distracted by the scale of the health restructuring that's been put on their plate in the midst of a global pandemic. That element as well is something that those staff on the front lines are dealing with continuously and I do want to acknowledge the efforts they are making day in day out to keep our communities safe and well. We support this bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Sarah Pallett—five minutes.