Pugh MaureenMAUREEN PUGH (National): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. I stand to speak to the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System and Children and Young People's Commission Bill in its first reading this afternoon. Before I head into the detail within the bill I would like to take the opportunity to remember the commemoration today at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 when the Great War ended 103 years ago with the signing of the armistice agreement. We remember the 9 million who died across the planet the 21 million who were wounded and that the sacrifice of our allied soldiers was so that we could live in freedom. Let us maintain respect and defend that freedom always.With the tabling of this bill once again it's a very big piece of legislation. It covers six Acts and 15 Acts simultaneously within Oranga Tamariki and the Children and Young People's Commission. There is a huge list of the Acts that it deals to which I won't go into detail about but basically what it does is it's going to set up another level of monitoring and that monitor will look to the performance of Oranga Tamariki. But already—and my colleague and friend Harete Hipango has referred to this in her speech is that what it looks like on the outside is that we are introducing yet another layer of bureaucracy into the system. There's already been in terms of the conversations with entities in the initial feedback that the Minister sought some quite critical comment about this imposition. One of the things that this bill will look to do is it will authorise staff members to enter homes properties residence or offices that are contracted or approved providers to Oranga Tamariki. And when those types of freedoms start to be compromised we need to be very careful about the scrutiny of the legislation that empowers that which is appropriate given the commemoration of today. And always when we are talking about the freedoms of individuals and families we need to exercise extreme caution. Of course the ultimate goal of this is to ensure that the safety of the children is always paramount. So there is a fine balancing act that will need to be found and I anticipate that this will be part of the discussions around the select committee table.Clause 99 identifies in this bill the functions and duties of the commission and they will include and I quote [promoting] the interests and wellbeing of children and young people by" among other things reporting on issues advocating raising public awareness and conducting inquiries; promoting and advancing the rights of children and young people by among other things monitoring the application of the Children's Convention by departments and other instruments of the Crown making reports to the United Nations and encouraging children and young peoples' participation and voice. I recall when the Oranga Tamariki legislation was going through this House several years ago that that was one of the issues that was identified and introduced: that the voice of young people would be included in that legislation. So appropriate I hope that the monitoring will also look to see that those young people are being adequately heard and that their voice in the system is not lost.Now in this time that we're under the families that are probably going to be using the services of Oranga Tamariki are under huge pressure. We've had nearly two years of pressure on those families and a lot of insecurity and uncertainty about their future. As a consequence the regard for the anticipated family violence and abuse of children is one of the consequences that we must stay alert to. So National is going to support this bill to select committee. And I do hope that given the Government's majority on that select committee there will be sincere open conversation and negotiation about the details in this bill. One of the things that we have come to realise is that when select committees have an absolute majority of Government members it has not been unusual for all of the contributions that are made in good faith to take us nowhere. So this is one of those issues because it relates to the care and the monitoring of Oranga Tamariki and therefore the safety and the welfare of children in their care that we hope the good faith negotiations and the voices of submitters will be heard and as a consequence where needed the legislation will be adjusted.The focus of the monitoring is to look at the performance and those other issues that I raised before but they're also the issues that have already happened. So from my humble opinion they are very backward-looking. But one thing that we certainly would hope—and I speak on behalf of my National colleagues—is that we don't treat this like an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. We hope that there will be a focus on solutions to the causes of family violence and the stress that families are under and therefore the consequences that fall upon the children. So National is always looking at solutions and that will be part of the contribution that we make to the discussions at the select committee table.Now one of the issues that I'd like to raise is around the uncertainty that has crept into the discussions already before this legislation was tabled. And one of those I'd like to focus on is the actual need for this new monitoring regime. We keep going back to the fact that it seems on the face of it to be another layer of bureaucracy even to the point where initially when the discussions were under way the Minister indicated that the children's monitor and the monitoring function would have an in principle intent to sit with the Office of the Children's Commissioner but in actual fact that's not what's being proposed. And I'll just point out some of the quotes that were made by the former Children's Commissioner about creating an autonomous Crown entity. He thought that having an autonomous Crown entity was the best watchdog because it had to be able to bark—"a watchdog … that can bark" were his words.Also there were Māori leaders who were concerned about the decision for where this entity is going to sit which is in the ERO—the Education Review Office. It does seem to be quite a disjointed relationship when you think about the work that this monitoring is going to be doing. So it doesn't seem like a comfortable fit. But they weren't alone in their concerns because one of the issues that was raised by some of the people that were initially consulted was that if the monitoring function is perceived to be too closely affiliated with ERO—the Education Review Office—this may impact on the willingness of communities to engage with and trust the monitoring agency. And I think that's a really valid concern. There was also VOYCE who made their comments about this relationship: "It feels to me it's the strangest place of all to have it sitting". There's a lot of work to do on this bill; let's take it to select committee."