Turei Metiria: Care of Children Bill — First Reading 
Turei Metiria: Care of Children Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:609;Page:6668] 
METIRIA TUREI (Green) 
: 
 The Greens are very pleased to support this bill going through to the select committee. However I advise the House that I will be moving an amendment to the Minister’s motion: that the bill be referred to the Justice and Electoral Committee and not to the Government Administration Committee. As I have said the Greens are very pleased to support the bill. We are delighted with a number of its provisions. We will also be advocating for some issues in the select committee which we consider is the best place for those discussions to occur. 
The bill assists the members of a family that suffers a break-up that cannot be amicably resolved between the various parties. About 90 percent of families that for some reason or another do break down are able to resolve those sorts of issues without recourse to the courts for assistance. However when the family does need some assistance this bill will give it better access to justice for all members of the family—the child and the adults who surround that family. We are very pleased to see that the emphasis of the bill is on the best interests and welfare of the child as the first and paramount consideration. It is essential that children’s interests highly influence the decisions of the court. 
The bill explicitly addresses concerns raised by many fathers in New Zealand and in the community that the Family Court is biased against them. It does that first by expressly stating it must not be presumed that placing the child in the day-to-day care of a particular person will because of that person’s sex best serve the welfare and best interests of the child and then by providing that a biological father will be a guardian automatically if he is married to or living with the mother of a child at any time from conception to birth or if his name is on the child’s birth certificate with his and the mother’s consent. We consider those to be very good provisions in the bill. 
We are also very pleased that the bill will treat same-sex couples in the same way as heterosexual couples are treated. For example guardianship for 16 to 18-year-olds will end if the parents have consented to a de facto relationship the definition of which includes same-sex relationships. The bill provides for same-sex couples to have access to relationship counselling in the Family Court—a service from which the current legislation excludes them. Of course the bill also amends the Status of Children Amendment Act 1987 so that where a child is conceived using assisted reproductive techniques with the consent of her partner the partner of the birth mother is deemed to be a legal parent of the child. That provision includes de facto and same-sex partners. Under the current law same-sex partners must seek guardianship through the Family Court if they want to legally clarify their parental responsibilities. That can be particularly unjust where the same-sex couple has raised children together for some time with each partner equally committed to the role of parent—a role that the current law fails to recognise. 
The Green Party’s sexual orientation policy supports the elimination of legislative barriers to the full participation of same-sex couples in society and the elimination of institutional discrimination against anyone who is lesbian gay bisexual transgender intersex takatapui or fa’afafine. The provisions of the bill are an important step towards the elimination of legislative barriers and institutional discrimination. The Green Party’s fundamental values lead us to promote an inclusive society. In our view the human family encompasses a rich diversity of ages genders generations ethnicities abilities and sexual orientations. The current Guardianship Act is tightly focused around the traditional nuclear family and that is simply not appropriate in an increasingly diverse multi-ethnic society. 
The bill does not create artificial families nor does it redefine genders but rather it recognises the diversity of families that do exist in this country and ensures that the best interests of the child guide the court’s recognition of the responsibilities of the adults who surround that child. Those adults may be the child’s biological parents or they may be step-parents same-sex parents grandparents and other near relatives. The bill clarifies their respective legal responsibilities to the child where the family for whatever reason breaks down. It is crucial that the close adults in the child’s life are clear about their respective responsibilities and that those responsibilities truly reflect the reality of the child’s relationships with those adults. No law that attempts to mend the damage from the breakdown of a family will fit each family’s circumstance perfectly. But this bill at least recognises the realities of children’s lives and the diversity of the families in which they live. 
There are some issues that we will want to address and to have considered in the select committee. There will be a greater load on the Family Court through this bill—for example in the court’s expanded jurisdiction over paternity orders in its specific role in preventing disputes and in its increased enforcement powers. The court will require greater resources in order to deal with those changes. The court’s capacity is already stretched and the efficacy of this bill will depend on the court having sufficient resources and skilled personnel to meet the expectations of the families that need to use it. 
There are also other principles that it may be appropriate to include in the bill—for example an objective that children should be able to maintain ongoing and frequent contact with both parents wherever possible. That issue as an example raises very real concerns about how legislation in such a sensitive area can best enable a child-parent relationship to flourish without unduly restricting where a parent may choose to reside. In the select committee other difficult issues like that will be raised and I look forward to hearing the views of the people who are most affected by this legislation. 
In conclusion I urge the members of this House to support the amendment that I will put forward and reiterate that the Greens are very pleased to support this bill going to the select committee.