Martin TraceyORANGA TAMARIKI LEGISLATION BILLFirst ReadingHon TRACEY MARTIN (Minister for Children): I move That the Oranga Tamariki Legislation Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Social Services and Community Committee to consider the bill. At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be reported to the House by 27 May 2019. I also intend that the committee have the authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting (except during oral questions) during any evening on a day where there has been a sitting of the House on a Friday in a week where there has been a sitting of the House and outside the Wellington area despite Standing Orders 191 193 and 194(1)(b) and (c). The purpose of this omnibus bill is to give effect to the policy to raise the upper age of the youth justice jurisdiction to include 17-year-olds as enacted by the Children Young Persons and Their Families (Oranga Tamariki) Legislation Act 2017. The bill contains amendments to ensure that 17-year-olds in the youth justice jurisdiction receive appropriate and consistent treatment benefits and protections from 1 July 2019. It will also enable the judiciary New Zealand Police and other key stakeholders to exercise their functions consistently and effectively in relation to 17-year-olds. The bill makes technical and consequential amendments to 11 Acts and to one set of regulations including the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 the Bail Act 2000 the Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Act 1995 and related regulations the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 and the Sentencing Act 2002. The bill removes ambiguities in the current legislation that may cause confusion inconsistent treatment or operational difficulties.While technical and consequential to the 2017 amendments the changes proposed in this legislation are necessary to make the reforms work. The decision to raise the upper age of the youth justice jurisdiction to include most 17-year-olds was a majority decision made by the previous Parliament. The expansion of the youth justice jurisdiction will take effect on 1 July 2019 after a two-year lead-in. I am confident that Oranga Tamariki has the capacity to respond to the inclusion of 17-year-olds in the youth justice system both immediately following 1 July and over the longer term. Oranga Tamariki are developing extra residential capacity by redesignating Whakatakapokai care and protection residence in Auckland as a youth justice residence and by adding additional capacity at Te Au rere a te Tonga youth justice residence in Palmerston North. In consultation with iwi partners Oranga Tamariki is developing community-based custodial options which will take some of the capacity pressures off residences. Oranga Tamariki are looking at a range of options to reduce custodial remand including better supporting young people who are on bail: 70 to 80 percent of the population in residences are on remand. Many 17-year-olds will have spent time in the youth justice system prior to turning 17 including time at Oranga Tamariki residences. Staff will know them and have built relationships with them. I know that having more time to work with them in a restorative care-based environment will increase the likelihood that they will not end up on a pathway into the adult justice system. In addition Oranga Tamariki are developing programmes and services tailored to the 17-year-old cohort. These include vocational training and employability and independent living support. Since 2017 other pieces of legislation have been identified as needing amendment to ensure alignment with the age increase and to address errors. It is important that processes and procedures affected by the expansion of the youth justice jurisdiction are clear and that the policy is consistently applied. The consistent treatment of 17-year-olds in the youth justice jurisdiction will ensure that our young people are given the rights and benefits that should be available to them and support New Zealand's compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice. Features of this bill include amendments to the definition of young person" to reflect the expansion of the youth justice jurisdiction and transactional provisions to clarify whether a 17-year-old should be managed within the adult or youth jurisdiction. Broadly speaking this will depend on whether proceedings have commenced prior to 1 July or not. Transitional provisions are required to ensure that there is certainty for all parts of the system including the judiciary and the police at the front line when the new jurisdiction takes effect on 1 July. I note that serious charges—those that have a maximum sentence of no less than 14 years taken against 17-year-olds—will remain in the adult jurisdiction. This bill does not alter that policy. The bill will also clarify the making of urgent interim orders that may be required in care or protection proceedings under the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989. This covers custody restraining or guardianship orders. Some current provisions due to come into effect on 1 July contain drafting errors in the original legislation from 2017. They would allow the court or a lawyer for the child to take action without knowing whether they had all of the relevant information available to understand the interests of the child and this needs correcting. There are established processes in the Act to ensure that when required children and young people can get the urgent help they need including where the court or a lawyer for the child hold serious concerns for them. Moving a child away from their whānau requires an interim order and it is a decision that should not be taken lightly and without the relevant information needed to determine the risk to the child. This is why a robust process is needed to ensure that it is the right thing to do. The Oranga Tamariki Legislation Bill ensures that children are only moved into State custody under defined circumstances and with an appropriate amount of information. To allow these drafting errors to remain would undermine the process and therefore present a risk to children. This bill also addresses three other drafting errors in the 2017 Act as well as making a consequential amendment to the Children's Commissioner Act 2003 to correct a cross-referencing error. These changes are also required ahead of 1 July 2019. I ask that my colleagues across the House support these amendments so that the original intention of the Oranga Tamariki Act can be truly implemented on 1 July without unintended consequences. I commend the bill to the House."