Parmar ParmjeetDr PARMJEET PARMAR (National): I am taking this call to support the Children Young Persons and Their Families (Oranga Tamariki) Legislation Bill in its second reading.Very quickly before I talk about the bill I would like to comment on two previous contributions. I heard them say that there were flaws in operating practices—and that is why we need this bill. We want to adopt a child-centred operating model. If they really believe that we should change our operating model they should be supporting this bill. This bill has not come before the House just like that. There has been a lot of work done behind the scenes before the bill has come before the House.We know that this bill is partly a product of the expert panel that was set up by this Government in April 2015. I want to acknowledge the work that the Minister in charge of the bill the Hon Anne Tolley has done to bring this big transformation in the care and protection system.About this bill—as we expected there was a huge amount of interest in this bill as we saw from the number of submissions. We had more than 400 submissions and around 98 submitters appeared before the Social Services Committee for oral submissions too. Looking at other select committee processes I thought this was a very lengthy process so I want to also thank the committee staff for their support.I want to acknowledge and thank all the submitters for taking this opportunity to have their views heard through the select committee process. Based on the responses that we received from various submitters—whether it was to fully support the bill partially support the bill express their concerns or suggest amendments—the select committee has recommended a number of changes which I believe will align the bill with the policy intent.During the select committee process there was one common thing that came through and that was that people were not happy with how the Child Youth and Family system was delivering for children. Yes there was concern for Māori children. But I have to say that I was not surprised listening to those submitters because that is what the expert panel said and that is what the Youth Advisory Panel said—the Youth Advisory Panel that was set up to advise the Minister the Hon Anne Tolley. We know that the expert panel consulted extensively with children young people parents caregivers and social workers who are involved in care and protection. Also the bill has been consulted on with several agencies. So listening to those submissions actually gives me more assurance that definitely we need this transformation of the care and protection system. That is why we want to adopt this child-centred approach. We want to adopt this child-centred operating model. We want to deliver better outcomes for Māori children. We also want to see that the services that are delivered to various agencies are delivered in a collaborative manner so that we can deliver better outcomes for the children who come into State care.Also families should be getting the opportunity to get assistance at the earliest possible opportunity so that they can provide for and also improve outcomes for children and young people. With this child-centred approach consultation with children is very important in this bill. But the other thing that I want to highlight is that yes care and protection while children are in care is important but the transition of children from care to independence is also important. The cut-off that we had before was not working and that is why now we have this new provision through this bill that these young people will be able to come back to their caregiver to live with them until the age of 21.This is a big step a very extensive step and it is well supported by allocations in Budget 2016 and Budget 2017. I support this bill and commend it to the House. Thank you.