Social Workers Registration Legislation Amendment Bill

Kia ora, Madam Speaker. It’s really good to have the support from the other side with regards to some of our initiatives and whakaaro, and glad that that member over there—Ryan Hamilton—is learning something. This particular bill is a bipartisan bill. It’s good that we can, on these types of kaupapa, come together, because it is a really important bill. This bill, of course, will delay the repeal of the experience pathways to social work registration from February 2024 to February 2028.

I think one of the points that was made during the kōrero on this bill was that people with practical experience can actually do the business out in the workplace. I think that members probably know that. In this particular area, I’ve seen firsthand—I was telling Minister Mark Mitchell last night—interestingly enough, in my former roles as a CEO for our community groups, that we engage a number of our Māori social workers who never had the qualifications that you probably should have, and eventually you must have. But some of our best Māori social workers had community and life experience. I was telling Minister Mitchell last night that we had actually engaged former gang members. I thought he’d find that quite interesting, in terms of cutting to the chase, in terms of some of the gang problems we were experiencing in South Auckland. Who better to address some of the domestic violence that was going on in some of the homes that we were working with than ex-gang members who’d turned their lives around?

I think some of the mahi that we did at ground level, particularly in the Whānau Ora space, where I would hope that this Government would continue to invest in that kaupapa, was rolled out by people who did not have the necessary academic qualifications in terms of social work. They can be some of our best people. So that is why this type of bill is really important, and that is why we as political parties—whatever our parties are—must come together to support a lot of these social workers who have great skills, who have life skills, who can change lives.

As I said, through my organisation, Manukau Urban Māori Authority, Waipareira Trust—we had Manurewa Marae too over there, with Takutai Tarsh Kemp, mihi to her for her wonderful mahi out there, out south in Manurewa. We know that, at ground level, you can engage our people—that has been the Māori experience—and then we get the qualifications, as we must do. But first and foremost, it’s about changing people’s lives. That’s why this kaupapa is important in terms of giving people space and time to get the necessary tohus in the end, or qualifications. That’s why we absolutely tautoko this bill, and I’m glad to see that all the parties and members in the House can come together on this type of issue. Madam Speaker, kia ora tātou.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It’s great to rise on the second reading of the Social Workers Registration Legislation Amendment Bill. Just to touch briefly on the background of this bill, the Social Workers Registration Act initially brought in the rules around this, back in 2003. It established occupation regulations to ensure that social workers are fit to practise and accountable. The regulations are intended to protect the safety of the public, to ensure that the people who provide these services provide the highest-quality service.

I would support what we just heard from the previous speaker, the Hon Willie Jackson, that these social workers do a very important job in our communities. They help lives—and can help save lives, in fact—and it’s a huge contribution that they make, but we need to make sure the people who are doing that also have the relevant skills necessary to deliver those services, often to people in quite a fragile life state.

So the intention back in 2017 was to repeal what’s called the “experience pathway” into social registration with a delayed commencement date. The decision to repeal that was made in support of the professionalisation of social work, to emphasise the standardisation of the workforce: requiring social workers to obtain an academic qualification. However, the reality is that we have come through to 2024 and we are some 700 vacancies short and we just simply don’t have the people that we need.

Of course, we’ve had some significant life events and national and global events that have affected people in New Zealand and are continuing to affect the people. I refer to, obviously, the COVID pandemic and the long tail that is coming from that. Only recently, I was in Te Ānau, for example, hearing about the significant ongoing effect on people from the pandemic. It’s still having quite a big impact on people’s lives, and people are still trying to come to terms with the emotional and financial challenges etc. that stemmed from that period. We need these social workers; we don’t have enough. So the intention of this amendment bill is to add another two years for that experience pathway, so that people who don’t have those academic qualifications but have the experience that is necessary—to ensure that we feel comfortable that they’re competent, fit, and proper—can offer these services to people in the community.

We want to extend this by another two years with the amendment that will be made to ensure that people in New Zealand have better access. But we also do want to send a signal that we do think it is important for people who work in this area to have those academic qualifications, to make sure we have the standardisation and that they have the skills so they can feel comfortable offering these services to people and the community.

So, with that, I’ll just say a deep thankyou from all of us, I think, here in the House to the people who offer these services across the country to our communities. They provide an incredibly valuable service and I thank them for their contribution. With that, I commend this bill to the House.

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. I was looking through this bill and thinking that it’s a pretty good bill, and then I was thinking, “Who’s voting for it?” and I thought, “Everyone is voting for this. We’ve got National, ACT, and New Zealand First voting to register social workers.” And I thought, “Has National finally run out of things to disestablish?” Maybe they have. Is it now that they’re actually passing Labour legislation because they’ve run out of their own bills to put? And is the point of registering social workers so that they can keep tabs on how many they’re going to fire when they bring in social investment and get rid of the Public Service.

I am pleased that we’re passing a bill that does good things for social workers and brings more rigour into the sector, but I am highly sceptical of why we’re here doing this in unison. It’s good that we’re doing more to encourage people to register and to be able to encourage that forward, but I am highly sceptical of how social investment is going to work, particularly for our social sectors, and how those communities that are the most vulnerable in New Zealand are served by social workers when a programme of 6.5 percent cuts to all social services will directly impact people like social workers in New Zealand.

It’s a pleasure to rise in support of the Social Workers Registration Legislation Amendment Bill. In contrast to the previous speaker, Ginny Andersen, I want to focus on the importance of this bill. I don’t think there’s anybody in this House that would look at what social workers do and think, “Wow, why do they do what they do?” It’s such an important role that they play and there’s not a lot of people that would actually be willing to do what they do. So I’d like to just start by acknowledging the significant contribution that social workers play in addressing some of our most intractable challenges that we have as a country.

This is an important bill, because this bill allows those that don’t have the necessary qualifications but have the experience—it gives them the opportunity to continue to serve their communities. When I think of social workers, I don’t have to look too far than my own sister, who’s a social worker, and the work that she does helping young Māori, young rangatahi, and young Kiwis throughout the country—and all those social workers out there that do a fantastic job in serving their communities.

So this is a bill that we are happy to support on this side of the House. It does give a little bit more breathing room for the sector to deal with the workforce shortages that we face in social workers; around about 700 vacancies for social workers across this country. We’ve got to do a better job of encouraging people into the sector, and part of that solution is, of course, training more into social work. Another part is encouraging those that have the experience but don’t have the qualifications to go and serve their communities.

I think the benefits of this bill have been well traversed in this House, and I commend this bill to the House today.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I’m very pleased to stand up and speak on this bill and make a short contribution. I also want to acknowledge the number of speakers that we have heard today. We heard the Minister for Social Development and Employment last night. We also heard the former Minister, Carmel Sepuloni, talk about the social worker registration, especially her impact and knowledge and lived experience of bringing the original bill to the House, shepherding it through. I also want to thank speakers on this side of the House, Matua Jackson, Willie Jackson—many of us know many social workers in our local communities. In South Auckland, a number of them qualified and unqualified assisted during the COVID period, especially in Māngere, where we had the floods and many of our mātua came through.

I do want to make a short contribution as to why this bill is important. I also want to highlight and thank the many individuals who are not qualified but they have mana, and they have aroha, and they are involved in social work. This bill is about their consideration of becoming a qualified person. But in some of our communities—particularly iwi, Māori, Pasifika, ethnic—there isn’t that need to become a qualified person, because you are already there.

The last point I wish to highlight: last night, the Minister for Social Development and Employment said in her kōrero; in her contribution—and I’m sure it’s on Hansard—that she was considering reducing the time from four years to two years. I want to put a plea in to the Minister as she considers and reviews and puts the bill through the necessary processes: I would oppose that consideration for the simple fact that many of our community members that can go through and become qualified actually are quite busy—very busy looking after their families, going through the cost of living crisis, and other duties. It’s not that study and becoming qualified is anything less. There’s just the time. When you come from intergenerational households that you are supporting, you are working; you are helping three generations of your household. I would support that the length of time of four years needs to be supported. I commend this bill to the House.

I rise in support of the Social Workers Registration Legislation Amendment Bill. “Kumbaya” had broken out until Ginny Andersen got to her feet and launched an unprovoked attack on this Government when we were just trying to be the nation’s great unifiers. I stand here alongside all parties in support of this amendment bill. The bill, as you know, currently seeks to delay the repeal of the experience pathway for social workers’ registrations. Delaying the repeal of that experience pathway will act as a short-term mechanism to help reduce the workforce pressures in the social work sector by continuing to provide an alternative means of entering that very important profession. The coalition Government, as the Minister Louise Upston said to us last night, recognises and values the critical role that social workers play in our communities. They provide essential front-line services to vulnerable New Zealanders. We saw the role they played during the COVID-19 pandemic, during the recent weather events of a year ago, Cyclone Gabrielle and the flooding around the country. So this Government is committed to supporting earlier interventions, which are more effective for those most at risk.

There are two pathways for registration currently. As we know, it’s the qualification pathway and you can do a Bachelor’s degree in many universities across New Zealand. In fact, you have been able to for a number of years. Despite my youthful looks, my flatmate did a Bachelor of Social Work 33 years ago, when I was in my first year at university, at the great university of Palmerston North. To be eligible for registration, as the House has well traversed, applicants must have a qualification prescribed by the Social Workers Registration Board. However, section 13 of the Social Workers Registration Act of 2003 provides this alternative experience pathway to registration for people who have had extensive practical experience but who do not have the prescribed qualification.

It was in 2017 that Cabinet agreed to repeal the experience pathway with the delayed commencement date, and we believe, as a Government, that more time is now needed. As the Minister has suggested, perhaps it’s going to be an amendment for a two-year extension to aid the sector to transition to a mandatory qualification setting, due to social worker shortages that currently are faced. As the member for Northcote, Dan Bidois, has already said, the Social Workers Registration Board estimate that there are 700 unfulfilled social worker vacancies currently. This has been also in growing recognition, in recent years, of the importance of diversifying the social work sector to better serve the communities more effectively. Extending for a couple more years the experience pathway is a key avenue to supporting this.

I look back, and this has had a long gestation, at the Social Services and Community Committee report back to the House in August 2023. Submitters were almost universal in their praise for this delay. Submitters told the committee that delaying the repeal and retaining the experience pathway would, among other things, recognise the importance of real-world experience and having a range of pathways into the social work profession would acknowledge that qualifications are not the only way to demonstrate competence as a social worker, that it would help to fulfil the current workforce demand, it would allow for greater diversity in the profession, and it would allow for more time to explore other options with social worker registration. There were some differing views, but the National Party is satisfied that pulling in the extension from four years to two years will mean that the mandatory registration of social workers and the public safety will remain absolutely paramount.

Looking through the explanatory note, it’s been well traversed by previous speakers exactly why we’re doing this. It also gives us the opportunity to consider other entry pathways, as I’ve said, into the social work sector. Carmel Sepuloni spoke last night, and she too, of course, has been a leader in this piece of work. Workforce pressures on social workers, exacerbated by COVID-19—this extension of this repeal will certainly help. So I commend this bill to the House.

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Members, we are about to again begin the first of the maiden speeches, so while we transition and the gallery fills up, we may just take a one-minute pause.