Guy Nathan: Domestic Violence Amendment Bill (No 2) Care of Children Amendment Bill Adoption Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Guy Nathan: Domestic Violence Amendment Bill (No 2) Care of Children Amendment Bill Adoption Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
[Sitting date: 11 August 2011. Volume:674;Page:20586. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon NATHAN GUY (Associate Minister of Justice) 
 on behalf of the Minister of Justice: I move that the Child and Family Protection Bill be now read 
— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: No I am sorry; that is not Government order of the day No. 4. 
Hon NATHAN GUY 
: I move  
That the Domestic Violence Amendment Bill (No 2) the Care of Children Amendment Bill and the Adoption Amendment Bill be now read a third time.  
Despite a comprehensive set of laws designed to protect children and families from violence and abuse New Zealand continues to have very high rates of domestic violence. The Government is committed to addressing the underlying factors that contribute to these high rates as well as doing what we can to protect victims of domestic violence under the law. We have already taken action to ensure that perpetrators are held more accountable for their behaviour through the introduction of on-the-spot police safety orders within our first year of office. This legislation is the next step in delivering on the Government’s commitment to strengthening the domestic violence prevention regime and increasing the protection of victims particularly children. 
When the child of a protection order applicant continues to live at home after the age of 17 they will now continue to benefit from the applicant’s protection order. In the unfortunate event of an applicant’s death it will now be clear that their children and other protected people will continue to be covered by the applicant’s protection order. The legislation also means that there will no longer be any opportunity for a lapse to occur between a temporary protection order and a final protection order. Administrative barriers to respondents’ engagement in programmes for stopping violence will also be minimised. Disputes over contact with children will be resolved earlier as parents will have an early opportunity to review care and contact arrangements after a temporary protection order is made. This will help to focus on the best interests of the child. 
The passage of this legislation will also ensure further consistency between the Domestic Violence Act and the Care of Children Act with regard to psychological abuse. The principal section of the Care of Children Act will adopt the definition of “violence” used in the Domestic Violence Act clarifying that all forms of violence include physical sexual and psychological abuse and also include indirect and direct abuse. When a protection order has been made against one party to a parenting order application including on the grounds of psychological abuse the court will not grant that party care or unsupervised contact with the child unless the court is satisfied that the child will be safe. 
The bill will also make it easier for a parent to obtain an order preventing the removal of a child from New Zealand. By making these orders more flexible it is hoped that parents who might otherwise have been deterred will be encouraged to seek such an order. 
Finally the legislation will help to protect children from economic and sexual exploitation by the creation of a new offence in the Adoption Act of improperly inducing consent to an adoption. This new offence will enable New Zealand to finally ratify the second Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children child prostitution and child pornography 10 years after the previous Government signed it. This ratification is also timely for a number of other reasons. One is the impending examination of New Zealand’s third and fourth consolidated report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. Ratifying the second optional protocol will also fulfil one of the commitments that the Minister of Justice made on behalf of the New Zealand Government to the United Nations Human Rights Council as a result of its universal periodic review in Geneva in May 2009. The ratification will demonstrate the Government’s strong support for the protection of children’s rights in an area that is of global concern. I commend these bills to the House.