Lole-Taylor Asenati: Child Support Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Lole-Taylor Asenati: Child Support Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 26 February 2013. Volume:687;Page:8178. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Le’aufa’amulia ASENATI LOLE-TAYLOR (NZ First) 
: 
 Talofa lava. Manuia fa’afetai. The proposed changes to child support payments in the Child Support Amendment Bill indicate how outdated our current scheme is. We worry about what a child will become tomorrow yet we forget that he or she is someone today. Our families face different challenges and circumstances from those that families faced in 1992. Our 21-year-old child support scheme no longer reflects the lives of our modern families and may prove to be more futile than effective. 
Questions have been raised surrounding the ambiguous definitions concerning parents and caregivers. Questions have also been raised on the percentage split for payments that are determined by how much time a parent or caregiver spends with the child. I am looking forward to receiving the Supplementary Order Paper that the Minister of Revenue alluded to earlier on today. 
It is beneficial to see the bill attempting to ensure that we revitalise and construct a new structure for child support payments that is in tune with the present. A child support system is futile if it is unable to keep up with the times. The proposed changes will emphasise the importance of child rearing and should aim to provide appropriate and necessary policies. This will ensure that the needs of the child or children involved are firmly met and that the caregivers are receiving the right amount of financial support. Full-time caregivers have an important role to play in raising their children. Financial constraints should be the least—the least—of their worries. It is our hope that this new formula will ensure that every child is afforded the right amount of financial assistance from both parents or caregivers so that they may grow up in a happy household. 
For far too long far too often—[ 
Interruption 
]—we see separated parents struggling to balance their lifestyles to the needs of their children or child. I can hear Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga trying to make some comments and I wish they were relevant. The primary parent or caregiver may have to work long hours just to make ends meet or may not receive sufficient financial support from the other parent. It is our children— 
Paul Goldsmith 
: There’s no need to shout. 
Le’aufa’amulia ASENATI LOLE-TAYLOR 
: I need you to listen and hear what I am saying Paul Goldsmith. It is our children who lose out at the end of the day. It is not my fault that I have been gifted with such a quality voice. The children are the ones who will be deprived of essential quality time with their parents. This amendment bill Paul Goldsmith enables the parents to receive or pay the right amount of support for their child or children so that the responsibility is equally and fairly shared. 
Paul Goldsmith 
: That’s better. 
Le’aufa’amulia ASENATI LOLE-TAYLOR 
: I thought you might like that. Moreover the proposed amendments reflect trends and patterns of life changes that New Zealand families currently face. The scheme should improve their lives and not become a burden. It is no surprise that families are working longer hours and probably working two jobs just to pay the bills and take care of their families. With the rising cost of living come longer hours away from children just so parents may chase the buck. The amendment bill should take this into account with greater emphasis on different living arrangements and circumstances. Not all families are unitary or fit one particular mould. Grandparents and other extended family members may be staying at home looking after the child or children if the primary parent is absent. Situations as such should be afforded some leniency which is good to see in this bill. For the sake of keeping families together and not allowing more children to fall through the system the child support system should ensure that if the other parent is unable to care for the children for justifiable reasons and the children are in the care of the grandparents then the grandparents should be receiving sufficient support. It is one way of ensuring that their capacity to look after the children is not hindered or constrained by a lack of financial support. 
 Our children are our future so we owe it to them and ourselves to ensure that their well-being is at the core of any policy that comes through the Social Services Committee. It will take time to assess whether or not the new scheme will be open to different living situations and arrangements but the prospects look promising at this stage I must say. The scheme should aim to align itself as closely as possible to the changes that are occurring in society and that directly affect our families. If it fails to do so then it is our responsibility to ensure that it does and we must find ways to implement new changes. 
Parents have a responsibility to safeguard their child or children from harsh effects or neglect and are also obligated to provide the best possible pathways for them. The bill should be effective in assisting parents who have primary care of their child and treat parents or caregivers who are paying child support with added fairness. Child support ought to help parents not punish one or the other. It should be a scheme that offers the right amount of assistance equal to the amount of care they provide for the child. Simultaneously it should also encourage parents to pay child support not look for ways to dodge payments. 
The obligations incentives and penalties attached to the new formula will make it easier and more desirable for parents to pay and receive child support. They will enable more attention to go towards raising children rather than chasing up late payments or no payments at all. Parents will have more time to invest in making sure that their child is properly taken care of. This is the way it should be. Children should not have to be victimised by relationships breaking down nor should they be neglected by one parent for fear of child support payments deterring them from spending time with their child. Instead parents should be encouraged to be positive role models for their children. Every child deserves a happy home and a safe environment to live in. 
Legislation we pass through this House is to determine a fair go for New Zealand’s future generations. Neil Postman was right in the 1982 introduction to  
The Disappearance of Childhood 
. He said: “Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.” Today’s children are tomorrow’s future. They deserve to be protected for they will be the leaders— 
Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga 
: That’s beautiful. 
Le’aufa’amulia ASENATI LOLE-TAYLOR 
: —of this nation in years to come. It is a beautiful quote for you to learn from Sam Lotu-Iiga. It is time to stop procrastinating and to develop better solutions. After all children find everything in nothing whereas men find nothing in everything. New Zealand First supports this bill. Thank you.