Social Workers Registration Legislation Amendment Bill

on behalf of the Minister for Social Development and Employment: I move that the Social Workers Registration Legislation Amendment Bill be reported to the House by 24 August 2023, and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting (except during oral questions), during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House, and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House, and outside the Wellington area, despite Standing Orders 193, 195, and 196.

The Social Workers Registration Legislation Amendment Bill needs to be passed by 27 February 2024 to avoid the experience pathway being repealed. Having the experience pathway unavailable, even if only for a short period, may create confusion for the sector at a time of significant change. Completing the select committee process before the 2023 election will reduce the risk of a delay by allowing the bill’s second and third readings to be ready to be progressed once the House begins sitting following the formation of the 54th New Zealand Parliament.

The bill proposes a single change to the Social Workers Registration Legislation Act 2019 to delay the repeal of section 13 of the Social Workers Registration Act 2003 from 27 February 2024 to 28 February 2028. This change continues existing practice for four more years and will enable the sector to respond to significant changes in their operating environment, including the Government’s extension of the social worker pay equity settlement that provides a financial incentive for social workers to become registered through the experience pathway, the social worker workforce supply and demand pressures that have been exacerbated by COVID-19 and increasing recognition of the value of indigenous practice in social work, and ensuring equitable pathways into the social work profession.

The Ministry of Social Development has worked closely with the Social Workers Registration Board and engaged with the social work sector to inform the developments of the bill. There is sector support for a temporary extension of the experience pathway to enable the social sector to adapt to significant changes in its operating environment. The low complexity of this change, as well as the sector support for the proposal, makes the slightly shorter select committee process appropriate.

Here we are again. Here we are: same Minister, different bill, still a shortened report back. And I’m fascinated, because the Minister who’s just resumed her seat, the Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan—who is not the Minister in charge of the bill; the Deputy Prime Minister is—just said that the sector is happy with this temporary delay, and the temporary delay is for four years. So if a temporary delay is for four years, why is it that we are rushing yet another piece of legislation through, cutting back the time that the public have to submit, and, instead of having a six-month process, we’ve got 3½? Oh, there’s a simple thing; it’s called an election in the middle, and they’re panicking that they won’t get the legislation through in time for the deadline.

Well, how long has the Minister known that this extension was going to be done? An extension of four years is definitely not temporary. So I think the Minister needs to get her time line sorted out because, yet again, we’re in this House debating a shortened report back of a Minister that is so arrogant she doesn’t give the public the chance they are due to submit on legislation. Honestly, I’ve done this speech more times than not with Minister Sepuloni when she’s introducing a piece of legislation that she doesn’t think the public should have the fair length of time to debate. I think that’s disgraceful. I think it’s absolutely disgraceful. So is it a temporary delay and is temporary four years?

💬 Hon Mark Mitchell: New democracy.

That’s kind of interesting. And it was interesting because at the start of this term in Parliament, I really thought with the first time ever that there was a majority party in Government, they would be careful—they would be careful and care for the public’s involvement in our democratic processes. But, no. Riding roughshod yet again over the consultation process, over the process of legislation that I used to be proud of, but, under these guys, I am definitely not, because, yet again, Carmel Sepuloni, who is now also the Deputy Prime Minister, is jamming a piece of legislation through with a shortened report back.

And why is that? Well, the Minister said it needs to be done by 20-something of February, because the date at the moment expires in March 2024 and they want to extend it to March 2028. So yet another good example of non-delivery. But if the legislation needs to be passed by February, why didn’t they start this process earlier? Because they would have known. Why did they not start it earlier? Or, also, why don’t they just allow the consultation process and the public submission to occur at the normal time frame, which would mean, yes, there’s an election in the middle, but Parliaments, when they’ve changed Government or not, have managed to deal with deadlines in a mature way without taking the time off the public?

But I think it’s pretty clear this is a Minister for Social Development and Employment that actually doesn’t care about the public; doesn’t care about those that work with social workers. Why is it that yet again we’re here in a shortened report back because, oh, the Government just didn’t get themselves organised—the Minister’s disorganised and doesn’t care about the public having their say? What is it? A temporary delay; temporary delay of four years. But yet who is it—

💬 Hon Member: A personal, nasty speech.

—that gets the time shaved off? It’s the public. No, it’s not a nasty speech. A nasty thing to do is the Deputy Prime Minister removing the opportunity of the public of New Zealand to have their say on legislation. It wouldn’t have taken much—wouldn’t have taken much—to allow four months, five months, six months. No, that’s a normal process. But, no; instead we take shortcuts. The Labour Government wants to take shortcuts, take the time off the New Zealand public, ram a piece of legislation through—don’t allow the full accountability or scrutiny, yet again. Yes, it’s boring. It’s boring to do this, but it is totally and absolutely irresponsible.

I call on the Government to actually show some respect for the New Zealand public, to organise themselves. Do things when you’re meant to, deliver for once, and don’t ride roughshod over the New Zealand public by shortcutting your process at their cost.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Yeah, I have to kind of follow on from that. Time and time again, we’ve seen processes just being trodden over. Whether it’s under urgency or it’s shortened report-back times, it’s not allowing the public time to have their say. And, in this bill in particular, it’s not allowing the social sector to come along and have their say. This could affect them quite severely, and this is a really important decision we have to make. They work in such an important sector and deserve to have their voices heard. And I’m actually very, very frustrated that we’ve got all these bills being shortened—the time frame that we actually get to listen to the people. Isn’t that our job? Our job is to represent the people. Our job is to represent those that we might be affecting by changing laws. And so how are we supposed to understand what those effects are going to be, if we don’t listen to the sectors?

💬 Hon Peeni Henare: You just said you’re well connected to the sector.

Yeah, I would like to listen to what the sectors have to say, and I would like to give them enough time within that shortened time frame to be able to have their say. We have all these convoluted processes that keep getting trodden over, and Labour doesn’t seem to want to represent the people that they say—[Interruption]

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! Order! That’s enough back and forward across the House.

We need to be able to follow proper process so that we can make good law, so we don’t end up back here amending the law again and kicking the can down the road again. The social work sector deserves better, social workers deserve better, and New Zealanders deserve better. So we need to stop doing this, and we need to stop changing the processes, and follow proper process.