Turner Judy: Care of Children Bill — In Committee Procedure 
Turner Judy: Care of Children Bill — In Committee Procedure 
[Volume:621;Page:16681] 
JUDY TURNER (United Future) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of United Future to take a brief call on this part. United Future does not have huge problems with this area other than to say that a huge opportunity for the Government has been missed. A really big opportunity was afforded the Government to have a fresh look at the procedures around the Family Court. When we look at what has just been developed in Australia with funding of mediation services in this regard we see that a hugely innovative approach has taken the sting out of what has been going on in the Family Court and it is making a huge difference. So Part 3 represents a lost moment in time in New Zealand history and I look forward to the day when we can redress that issue. 
I want to raise a couple of issues. Last Wednesday in the House I questioned the Minister for Courts the Hon Rick Barker about a programme called Children in the Middle which is being piloted in the Family Court on the North Shore. That Minister did not even know about the pilot programme that is going on in the courts—which are under his jurisdiction. It is an incredibly innovative programme. The Law Commission has recommended the rolling out of this programme and that was my question to the Minister. I asked whether he was planning to take up the recommendation. He had been quoting the commission all the way through his answers yet did not know anything about that recommendation. 
Part 3 could have included aspects of that pilot programme. Let us remember that parents who are using the Family Court to settle custody and access issues are parents who are at war with each other. Most parents who separate and divorce manage to sort this out in a reasonably amicable way with the future of their children in mind. But when couples are unable to do that they find themselves in the Family Court. The pilot programme on the North Shore requires those parents prior to getting their date in court to have participated separately in two sessions of parent education that very clearly show them the impact of what their ongoing conflict is having on their children. The evidence is very clear: serious ongoing conflict is one of the most damaging factors of divorce on children. 
 I have offered to help the Government. I have drafted a member’s bill to amend the Family Proceedings Act. It is now in the ballot waiting to be drawn but I invite the Government to take the work I have done and make it a Government bill and get it through the House and into action so that this wonderful pilot that is happening now in the Family Court on the North Shore can be rolled out and become standard Family Court procedure. Then every couple who are in dispute over the looking after of their children would first of all sit down for about 4 hours and have a very serious heart-searching look at the impact on their children of what they are doing. It would be a chance to be brought to their senses. The strengthening of mediation provisions at this very crucial moment in a family’s life is absolutely vital and we have the opportunity to look at what is happening in Australia in that regard. 
Part 3 has some good points. It offers an improved level of accountability but really it is just a missed opportunity to have done so much more. When we are talking about families that are before the court we need to understand that the needs of children at this time are absolutely vital. The outcomes for families who have to go through this process are usually pretty appalling. I think it is a huge shame that we did not take up the Law Commission’s recommendations and make Part 3 a much more humane and sensible provision.