Halbert ShananSHANAN HALBERT (Labour—Northcote): When I stood in this House to make my maiden speech I said that I signed up to this job to make progress in my communities and today I stood on those front steps with some of my colleagues to say to a group of young people from Albany Senior High School that our kopapa is your kopapa" as they presented a petition to this House to urge our Government to fund gender-neutral bathrooms. They did that because they believe in this Government and that we understand the vision and aspirations of our future generation. That's what I stand for and I encourage others to stand up for the voice of our young people.I'm incredibly proud to be the chair of Labour's rainbow caucus and the work that we've done since we've been in Government to enable those voices for the mahi to be done and for the action to be taken. In fact the first time I met that group of young people was when they were lobbying me and telling me the reasons why they believed we needed to ban conversion practices in this country. They've seen internationally the impacts that it had on young people—the impact on their mental health—and they wanted us to do something about it. And there we were. We all stood up together—well most of us stood up together—to ban conversion practices and that's why I'm proud to be the chair of Labour's rainbow caucus alongside many of our partners in this House.We've made progressive change for our rainbow communities and it doesn't stop there. Today is another example. In the Budget this year we have boosted funding for gender—affirming care and training for our health sector to be more responsive to the needs of transgender New Zealanders because in this House every New Zealander counts. We've also introduced a rights-based approach to healthcare for intersex tamariki and young people empowering them and their parents with better information to make informed decisions about their care and preventing unnecessary medical interventions from occurring. This side of the House responds to those issues well. We understand that every child in this country has the right to feel included. Whether it be in this House whether it be in their schools or whether it be in their community centres they have a right to be included and under this Government we are getting those things done.But solid delivery doesn't stop there. In fact I've been really proud to be a member of Parliament on the North Shore where we've been able to get work done on housing transport and infrastructure. Aucklanders are facing a 7 percent increase in water rates. That side of the House wants to do nothing. This side of the House wants to get on with the job of supporting Aucklanders to be able to pay to live within the costs of our city. That's solid delivery and I want to speak particularly to the progressive gains that we've seen with our children and our whānau. I have a whole list.Ten thousand local people benefited from the boost to the benefits in Budget 2021 and the further increase delivered on 1 April this year. That's North Shore people. Over 50 percent of workers in Tāmaki-makau-rau Auckland were kept in work through COVID lockdowns and we see unemployment at low levels now. There are free lunches in schools and that really counts. I heard the member across the House talk about breakfasts. Well we've got school lunches in our schools. The winter energy payment is helping low-income families across this country with their winter energy bills—helping to keep them warm this winter. And last but not least and a favourite of mine we've been working on our crime and safety challenges in our community. We've put back funding to reverse National's truancy services that they cut and we did it in this Budget this year to ensure that our young people are engaged in their learning and are in their schools and not choosing alternative negative pathways.I am proud that under this Government we are standing for inclusion. I am proud that we're getting things done but most of all I'm proud of our progress."