Williams ArenaARENA WILLIAMS (Labour—Manurewa): I'm very pleased to rise to speak on this important issue today. But I first—before I make three points flagging for the Justice Committee some issues for further inquiry at that stage which the Government members will be supporting this bill to—want to just congratulate the chair of the Justice Committee Ginny Andersen for her work on the Holidays (Bereavement Leave for Miscarriage) Amendment Bill (No 2) tonight. And I raise that bill in this debate because it's the chair of the Justice Committee's work within her own party and certainly with me that has given me comfort to come to this debate tonight and be able to support this bill. And it's with that mind-set of consensus building and that mind-set of leadership amongst all parties within this House that the member for Hutt South Ginny Andersen has approached this issue.And I would also flag for the House's attention just how busy the Justice Committee is. In agreeing to hear submitters on this bill in a midst of a Justice Committee which is extremely busy which has inquiries on foot members' bills to deal with and Government legislation coming you know this is something which will require careful attention by the Government and is being given time in a collegial way that I applaud the Justice Committee chair for allowing.Now I want to address three issues to flag for further consideration at the select committee stage. I think these issues go to the heart of what we mean when we say on this side of the House that we absolutely support access to justice within our communities and that we absolutely support lawyers being able to provide legal services in a way which is appropriate and in a way which actually serves our communities and means that people are getting good useful legal advice. The first is this issue of where lawyers who have been admitted to the bar but who are not entitled to practise on their own account are employed by one employer and are allowed to give legal advice to that one employer. I was one of those lawyers. Within five years of graduating from law school I became an in-house counsel to an iwi and then was elevated to be that iwi's counsel practising on my own. I wasn't at that point allowed to practise on my own account because I hadn't gone through the extra training that you might see partners in law firms stepping up to do or barristers who practise on their own accounts. Under this provision a lawyer in that situation who is young and inexperienced but a subject matter expert in my case in iwi governance and corporate governance I would have been able under this bill to be able to provide pro bono services without any supervision without any senior lawyers to turn to and consider the advice that I was giving to anyone who came through my door and asked for it. I would be able to provide housing advice for renters who sought advice about their landlord's treatment of them. I would be able to provide my opinions about immigration law which is an area which is highly specialised.The point I make here is that even though members of this House might not find that at all surprising because we as parliamentarians give our opinions all the time freely and generously there's a different status of lawyers who give legal advice. That legal advice should be able to be relied upon. It should be true. It should be correct. And it should put someone in a position where they know the law the law is knowable to them and that they can follow it to the letter. And I think the select committee would be wise to consider that issue very carefully about inexperienced lawyers being able to provide pro bono services without checks and balances.The second issue I want to bring attention to for the select committee process is the place of community law in providing appropriately supervised services. It would've been fine for me as a young lawyer to be providing that kind of pro bono advice which I've talked about through a community law centre. It would have been fine because I would have had experienced lawyers there who saw those cases all the time who I could turn to and ask for advice and that would have been appropriate. Unfortunately on that side of the House they've gutted community law centres. They've taken away funding for services which were extremely vital to the community and that's why those lawyers aren't able to get those services to community law right now. And this in my view would be a patch-up job.The third issue that I want the select committee to be able to consider is whether this bill as currently drafted extends the special place of lawyers in our society to people who should not appropriately be using those special powers that lawyers have to give advice which can be relied upon and trusted. Thank you it's been a pleasure to speak on this issue and I look forward to hearing it more at the Justice Committee.