Carter John: Children Young Persons and Their FamiliesAmendment Bill (No 4) — First Reading 
Carter John: Children Young Persons and Their FamiliesAmendment Bill (No 4) — First Reading 
[Volume:618;Page:14479] 
JOHN CARTER (National—Northland) 
: 
 This bill is an example of just how absolutely hopeless this Government is and I will tell members why. This bill will do nothing to alter or improve the service delivered by the Department of Child Youth and Family Services in this country. Let me tell the House why that is. 
I mentioned last night but I want to reiterate that this bill will not do anything to help victims. All that it does is make it easier for those who are the perpetrators. Under this bill the victims are shut out. Unless significant changes are made by the select committee—and the National Party under the leadership of Katherine Rich on this bill will be making sure there are—I give notice as has been given earlier that National will end up opposing the bill because it does nothing. 
We have already seen that the problem with this bill is that it does nothing to address the multiplicity of times that a young offender can take part in Family Court conferencing. Do members know that in this nation there is one person who has been to a Family Court conference 16 times? How many chances do people expect to get before they are actually pulled up and made to address their issues? There are two people who have had 15 shots and there are 100 who have had eight to 14 shots. It is just not good enough and we expect the Government to do something about it. But what is it going to do? Under this bill it is not going to do anything at all. 
The thing that also worries us is that we have these offenders who continue to offend who do not worry about their victims—do not worry about the elderly do not worry about the people who have to suffer as a consequence of their offending—and under this bill they will get automatic name suppression. Why should they get automatic name suppression under this sort of legislation? The public should know who the young people are who are causing problems. It really really concerns me that this Government knows there is a problem out there but is not doing anything about it. 
That brings me to the issue that I really want to address. I want to bring to the attention of the House some statistics that relate specifically to Northland. It is the matter of unanswered cases. This House will be interested to know that in the northern region there are 862 recorded cases that have not been answered at all. That is a disgrace. The problem with this Government is that it is just not paying attention to resourcing this department so that it can get on with its job. There have been 862 cases of people ringing up and saying: “Hey we have a problem here with a young person. These are the circumstances. This is what is happening.” and what happens? Zilch. Their calls are not even answered. People leave a message on an answerphone saying they are worried about a case but what does this Government do about it? It does absolutely nothing. It is a disgrace. There are 862 such cases just in Northland. Those people need to have their issues addressed. That is the trouble with this Government. It is big on talk but when it comes to resourcing something that needs to be resourced it does nothing. It can spend $500000 on sending a braying dunny to Italy but when it comes to something that is absolutely important which might mean the difference between a young person having an opportunity or not it does absolutely nothing. 
Then it turns round and says that it is the fault of the officials and of the people who work in the department. Actually it is not. The fact is that the department is under-resourced its staff is underskilled and it has people who are asked to do a job that is beyond their ability. They can answer phones but it is beyond their ability to address the issues that are brought to their attention. What does the Government do? It brings in some silly bill that includes a whole lot of stuff that will do nothing. The Children Young Persons and Their Families Amendment Bill (No 4) will achieve zilch. 
I tell Government members this Parliament and this country that the National Party will look to make significant changes to this legislation. The National Party knows that if this bill goes through as it is now it will end up doing absolutely nothing. I know that my colleague Peter Brown would agree with me. He wants legislation to be effective in this House. We all want legislation to be effective. But this sort of legislation will not get the support of the National Party and I suspect that a number of parties in this House will not support it in its third reading if it is not changed significantly. 
I say again that the issue of victims’ rights is not addressed in this bill. I say again that the issue of a young person who repeatedly offends has not been addressed in this legislation although it should be. That young person should have one or two opportunities then “slammo” he or she should be put away shot out dealt with put out of the system so that he or she will not cause any more problems to anybody but will this Government do anything about it? Not on your nelly! We have even got to the stage where it is saying: “Don’t worry young fella. Keep offending. We’ll suppress your name so that no one knows who you are.” The offenders can leave a note when they climb in the back window so that the victims might know who they are but this Government does not want the general public to know. It is giving them automatic name suppression. 
I ask again what the Government is doing in this legislation to address the matter of unanswered cases. This year in Northland 862 people have rung up and said they have an issue and they are worried about it. They have said that this young person and that young person need to be looked at as they may well be future criminals. What has happened? Absolutely nothing? 
Jill Pettis 
: You’re just repeating yourself. 
JOHN CARTER 
: The member is right; I am repeating myself for the very reason that it is so important and it is so difficult to get a message through to this Government at all that I have to keep saying it again and again. Unless this legislation has significant improvements we will oppose it later on during its process through this House.