Faafoi KrisFAMILY COURT (SUPPORTING CHILDREN IN COURT) LEGISLATION BILLSecond ReadingHon KRIS FAAFOI (Minister of Justice): I seek leave to present a more recent version of the legislative statement that was circulated this morning which better reflects the changes that were made to the bill at the select committee stage.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Leave has been sought for that course of action. Is there any objection? There is none.Hon KRIS FAAFOI: Thank you Madam Speaker. Given that I move That the Family Court (Supporting Children in Court) Legislation Bill be now read a second time.The Government is committed to strengthening the Family Court and this bill forms part of a long-term programme of change focused on improving access to justice for children for parents and for whānau in care of children disputes. This bill will also enhance children's participation in the proceedings that affect them and help to ensure that children feel supported and informed as they move through the Family Court process. It will also expand lawyers' duties in care and protection proceedings and reinforce expectations that people should be protected from family violence.The bill has been considered by the Justice Committee and that committee recommends by majority that it be passed with sensible amendments that I support in full to four clauses. I thank all members of the select committee for their thorough consideration of the bill. Sixty-seven submissions were received on the bill from people and organisations with valuable and varied experience and the resulting changes have the Government believes strengthened the bill.The purpose of the bill is to reinforce the expectation that a child should have reasonable opportunities to participate in decisions affecting their care and welfare and to ensure that lawyers who are appointed to represent children in proceedings in a Family Court are suitably qualified to represent the child or young person and that they explain the proceedings of the court to their clients. It also requires lawyers to facilitate the efficient resolution of disputes in order to minimise harm to children families and whānau and also to reinforce the need for the court to recognise and to respond appropriately to family violence particularly the impact it has on children.The bill does not lower existing application thresholds nor does it put more disputes in court or encourage a more legalistic approach. The bill also does not remove or omit recourse to alternative dispute resolution.At this point can I acknowledge my predecessor in this portfolio the Hon Andrew Little. Last term—I believe in early 2018—he set up an independent panel to examine the family justice reforms of 2014. That panel identified that there is limited participation by children in issues that affect them and there is concern that children's views are not obtained and considered both in out-of-court and in-court processes. Studies do show that children want to be involved in decision making and can experience immediate and long-term consequences if they aren't listened to which includes feelings of being isolated lonely anxious and having difficulty coping with stress. To respond to these issues the bill will amend the Care of Children Act to establish a new guiding principle that a child should be given reasonable opportunities to participate in any decisions affecting them during the court process and also to provide express reference to article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child reinforcing existing expectations about the view of a child.The bill will also amend the Family Dispute Resolution Act to ensure that the children who are subjects of a dispute are given any reasonable opportunities to participate in decisions affecting them that the family dispute resolution (FDR) provider considers appropriate. The bill also emphasises the importance of engaging children appropriately in processes that affect their care. Providing children with an opportunity to express their views can help parents focus on the needs of their children rather than their own conflict in a dispute that either goes before the court or does not. It can also help children adjust to their parents' separation including improved mental health outcomes and it can contribute to more durable care arrangements at the end of a FDR process or a court process. Overwhelmingly children want to participate in family life to have a say and to have an opportunity to make their feelings about the parental conflict known.The independent panel that I spoke of earlier also identified that there is considerable variation in how lawyers for a child obtain and represent the child's view and there is no legislative requirement for lawyers to understand a child's cultural background. In responding to these issues the bill will amend the Care of Children Act to require that on appointing a lawyer for a child a lawyer's personality their cultural background training and experience must be considered and to require that a lawyer appointed to represent a child must explain the nature of the proceedings to the child in a manner that the child is most likely to understand and support the child's ability to express informed views. These amendments are intended to ensure that children feel supported and informed as they move through the Family Court process.The panel also identified that the family justice system does not respond well to family violence particularly the impact it has on children. So again the bill will amend the Care of Children Act to require that the court must have regard to the principles set out in section 4 of the Family Violence Act emphasising safety as a primary consideration in the assessment of a child's situation. The bill signals this Government's continued focus on enhancing safety and strengthening responses to children at risk of family violence.The panel also identified that delay is widespread and it undermines confidence in the Family Court and contributes to deepening family and whānau conflict. The bill will also again amend the Care of Children Act to impose a duty on lawyers to promote the resolution of disputes as safely fairly inexpensively simply and speedily as is consistent with justice. This amendment is intended to lead to better less harmful outcomes for the child it will be beneficial at the time when the Family Court is under significant pressure and it will save capacity for those requiring timely judicial intervention. Since 2014 when those Family Court reforms were made an increase in delays has meant longer resolution times in care of children disputes and the parents of children being left in limbo and there are around 16000 children subject to Care of Child Act proceedings in the Family Court each year. We know that Care of Children Act applications take on average 300 days to resolve and this is particularly detrimental to children as their sense of time is slower than adults. It may also mean that children do not have contact with one parent for an extended period of time which may lead to a degradation of a relationship and limit the child's participation in the parent's culture.I want to thank the independent panel again for the report on the 2014 justice reforms ably supported by the expert reference group. That report has informed the development of this bill and will provide the foundation for further reforms in the family justice system. The Government remains committed to addressing the issues identified by the panel as well as broader underlying systemic issues and barriers to access to justice and we know that that will take time.This bill forms part of a wider programme of work to support families through the family justice system. The latest phase includes the establishment of Family Court associates to reduce judges' administrative burdens and enable faster resolution of disputes in the Family Court a consideration of a review of the Family Court Rules to better facilitate the efficient operation of the Family Court and meet the needs of an increasing number of self-represented litigants improving the recruitment and retention and support of specialist report writers to preserve the Family Court's access to expert information and enhancing family justice professionals' training to ensure they have the skills and resources to identify and respond to family violence.Together with this bill these initiatives will promote our vision of a family justice system that is safe and responsive to the diverse needs of those who are going through it and where all parties should and will have a voice. It is a family justice system that continues to place a child's wellbeing at its heart. I commend this bill to the House.