Coffey TamatiTAMATI COFFEY (Labour—Waiariki): Thank you Mr Chair. Thank you for the opportunity to talk on this particular bill. As I get up here—and I have listened to a few of the contributions from some of the members in this Chamber—I just want to remind the committee that we were once part of the problem. Actually we were the ones that made the laws that everybody had to follow. So as we praise the work that we do I just caution that we also remember that we were actually once part of the problem. For that reason I'm happy and I'm sad to stand here and take a call on this. I'm standing on behalf of all of those people that can't be here today of course but who have had to live with the guilt and the shame of having a conviction under this particular Act of Parliament. It's for that reason that I so proudly supported the marriage equality bill back in 2014 so that people could understand that things were changing that times were changing and I'm happy to say that Parliament through this particular bill here is also changing as well.If there's somebody in particular that needs some thanks just in relation to this particular bill it is the petition of Wiremu Demchick and the 2111 people that signed his petition that came before the House and I just want to just read it out: That in the matter of those who were convicted of consensual"—consensual—"homosexual acts prior to the Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986 [that] the House … promptly issue an official apology to those convicted and (b) pass legislation which sets out a process for reversing the convictions of those convicted both living and deceased in a manner which upholds the mana and [the] dignity of those convicted." I would like to commend Wiremu and all of those people that signed this particular petition to bring this bill before the House. If anybody needs thanks it's actually them.I want to also just raise a point about what I see is very necessary—the ability for somebody to apply on somebody else's behalf. I just wanted to touch on that wee point because there are many people who have had convictions against their name for a long time now who have since passed on. For that reason it is only right that somebody be able to apply for this expungement on their behalf. So I commend the committee and also Minister Little for making sure that that's a key part of is so that we can have representatives that can step in on behalf of their family member their friend or their whānau to be able to make things right.A thousand people—they say—may be eligible to apply under this scheme based on data that has been gathered by Statistics New Zealand and for that reason I look forward to monitoring the process and seeing the names of people coming out of the shadows who have been firmly standing in the shadows for quite some time for those prosecutions that were held between 1965 and 1986.I do want to just ask the Minister one question about the compensation question. I know that I've been spoken to by some members of the community of the rainbow community in particular. I'm just asking that question around compensation. I understand firmly that that's not part of this but I did want to know so that I can report back to the community about why there wasn't the question of compensation raised—and also that difference between an expungement and a pardon. To normal people out there that don't sit here in the hallowed halls of Parliament they may not understand the difference between those two particular terms. So just a bit of clarification around that would also be very welcome.I'm happy to understand that this is part of an international movement of countries that are undertaking this process. I understand that our scheme is particularly mirrored on the scheme that was put through in Australia. We've gone and aligned our particular bill that way. Of course it has been done in England and in Wales too so I was just trying to understand what exactly the differences were in those two as I've only recently come before this particular piece of legislation. So if we could just have a wee bit of an explanation as to what the difference was between the England and Wales situation and why we chose to align ourselves with the Australians that would be great. Thank you."