Mark RonRON MARK (Deputy Leader—NZ First): In some ways I almost walked out of here a few minutes ago. It is really interesting hearing a lot of people who have got a lot to say and are very passionate about what they think about how children in care should be looked after and it is very interesting to hear even the Minister say that they paid a lot of attention to the youth group that was there as an advisory group. Well surprise: I am a foster child. I still call myself a foster child. I work with fostering kids and have done for years trying in some way to put back some of the things that I was privileged to gain from caring loving New Zealand parents who took me into their home because my family would not did not could not—should have listening to all the rhetoric I hear around here about the importance of whakapapa—Marama Davidson: No that's not what we're saying Ron.RON MARK: No no you had your say—take your call. Take your call when it is your time. Maybe try listening to someone who is a foster kid who has gone through that and who understands the dislocation—Marama Davidson: That's not what we're saying.RON MARK: Oh I hear exactly what you are saying in your politically correct patronising overtones. So get this: it does not matter what we all think about the parents' rights the extended whānau's rights the extended extended whanaungatanga that might be preached at us loud and clear. It actually only matters what is right for the child. That might well cut right across some adult feelings and hurt them but that is tough—tough—because the only thing that matters is what is right for the child.I was fortunate unfortunate depending on which month which year of my foster care I want to look at—and understand this: my last set of foster parents was unofficial; they just took me in. They were Pākehā—Audrey and Alex Horn. They took me in because I had nowhere to live. Yes I had barracks in the army but where did I go when I went home? My foster parents had packed up and moved out. I had been discharged from care at the age of 17 apparently an adult capable of living on my own. Well now you guys are saying we should raise the age of criminal responsibility because I should not have been living on my own I should have been in care. Well hell I did like tens of thousands of other foster kids like me.They took me in unofficially and gave me a home. Why? Because they cared about me. They loved me. They were not Māori. They could not talk to me about whakapapa. They could not teach me Te Reo. The only thing they could give me was love—that was it. It is interesting because when I joined the Labour Party one of the people whom I admired was a chap by the name of Norm Kirk. Norm had only one thing to say: People don't want for much they only want somewhere to live someone to love and somewhere to work." That is the nub of this.Care of the child is paramount and I do not actually give a stuff about the bleatings and the whinings of some extended whanaunga who may or may not visit them once in a lifetime. Let me assure you many of my extended whanaunga whom I live among now never visited me once—not once. Not once did they make an attempt to find out where I was or my brothers and sisters. Not once did they come looking for me. The only thing they have got to criticise me for today is that I do not speak Te Reo. The only thing they have got to criticise me for is that I dare to argue back at them with a different view. Well my view is built on life experience and they gave it to me. They gave it to me.What do I look on that is positive? I look on five sets of foster parents whom the State selected and who took me into their homes: the Duncans the Seymours the Wylies the Fields and the Thorburns—every one of them Pākehā. I could have been placed with a Māori family at the drop of a hat if someone had stepped forward. It did not happen. I know from the connections I have managed to attain since I came to Parliament that I have got family who love me dearly and who have taken me back into Papawai taken me back into Hurunui o Rangi and taken me back into Te Ore Ore. Now I know about my connections with Tūwharetoa Ngāti Raukawa Te Arawa and Whakatōhea and I am very very very proud of all of them and particularly of my uncle Api Mahuika and my Ngati Porou family.I have been able to learn that and pick it up and feel the love and the generosity post my care in a way that I will for ever be grateful for. I will always cherish it and I will be proud of it. But in those days from 3 years to 17 the only thing that really really really mattered was that someone would take me in to their home give me a bed to sleep on a roof over my head three square—well some of it was not always three square meals a day but good meals regular meals. Even if I had to go to school barefoot—which I did at Pahīatua primary and at Hillcrest—it did not matter; I had Weet-Bix in the morning milk on that I had a cut lunch in my bag and when I got home someone took an interest in my homework.I will for ever be grateful. Why do I give support to these foster families regardless of their race ethnicity the language they speak—Muslim Jewish Christian Māori Pākehā—the whole lot? Why? Because they care and I will be damned if I will sit in this Committee and have every foster parent slammed and banged. [Interruption] Stop it there. The innuendo that comes out is "Oh they all get abused."—they all get abused. Well hell I got some hidings—yes I did. But overall when I finally got what I wished for—that one visit back home—and I ended up as a 15-year-old in Cannons Creek pub in Porirua at 35 Driver Crescent and I saw firsthand what my life could have been I thanked God for the Department of Social Welfare I thanked God for the system we had I thanked God for those foster parents who took me in cared for me and gave me a chance. I also thanked God that people like Rex Hēmi like Auntie Lu Auntie Mihi Auntie Mary and even the guy that I battled a lot with—oh shocking; God forgive me his name has just gone straight out of my head.Marama Davidson: Uncle?RON MARK: No Workman—Kim Workman. Kim Workman despite our different political views on the justice system and other things was the man who connected me back to Papawai aided and assisted by Rāna Waitai and I thank God for them.But let us not lose sight of what is important here. We would have ended up supporting this bill Minister Tolley but for that little issue that we disagree on around the youth justice system and a couple of other tweaks that are inappropriately focused in our view on iwi/whanaunga first. Sorry—it is about the child first."