Lee Melissa: Vulnerable Children Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLee Melissa: Vulnerable Children Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 15 April 2014. Volume:698;Page:17267. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MELISSA LEE (National): It is a great pleasure to rise to support the second reading of the Vulnerable Children Bill. To the majority of New Zealanders the idea of abusing children is simply abhorrent. However a small percentage of New Zealanders do hurt our defenceless children. Physical sexual and emotional abuse of our most precious little ones is a reality and it happens right here in this country called God’s own. Whether the cause of the abuse is put down to alcohol drugs low self-esteem mental illness or whatever the reason—although I personally do not believe there is any excuse for abusing children—our children are hurting and the need for the Vulnerable Children Bill is paramount.Most of our Kiwi kids grow up in a loving and safe environment where they can be children and they can play without fear but more than 50 children have died in the last 5 years in this country because of extreme abuse. Because of abuse a child under 2 is hospitalised every 5 days. Every year Child Youth and Family substantiates 22000 cases of physical sexual and emotional abuse and neglect. They are shocking statistics that we should all be embarrassed about. New Zealanders have had enough.The reforms we are making are major and represent the most significant legislative reforms to address child abuse and neglect since the passing of the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act. Reforms were proposed in the White Paper for Vulnerable Children and the Children’s Action Plan. The Ministry of Social Development the Ministry of Education the Ministry of Health the Ministry of Justice and the police will put policies in place containing provisions on the identification and reporting of child abuse and neglect. These Government departments’ funded and contracted services also have these policies in place. This includes TePuniKōkiri the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment district health boards and school boards of trustees.This bill is about reinforcing the need for shared responsibility and coordinated action across the Government social services sector to better protect our vulnerable children and to help ensure that our children are safe with those who work with them. The standard safety checks for employees in the Government and the Government-funded children’s workforce are making sure that people with disqualifying convictions are prevented from working with our children. We are increasing the number of social workers in schools to cover all decile 1 to 3 schools. We have put social workers in hospitals we have increased funding and services for children in care and we have introduced Children’s Teams to work with at-risk children. Now 142000 children have access to social workers meaning there is face-to-face contact with professionals trained in dealing with complex and difficult issues.The Social Workers in Hospitals initiative introduced in 2009 is also making a positive impact with social workers now based in every district health board in the country. We will have a national children’s director in place and two Children’s Teams in place. Also a Vulnerable Children’s Board of chief executives has been operating for some months now. We are working on a care strategy for children in State care; the Child Protect line a vulnerable kids’ information system; and increasing the pool of iwi caregivers. This is not just about a very narrow focus on vulnerable children; this is the Government’s response to our vulnerable children. It is a signal it is a sign and it is a message to the rest of New Zealand that we have had enough of the abuse of our children and the neglect of our children.This bill will bring in better Government accountability better vetting and screening of people working with children and better guardianship and protection laws. Anyperson working for the Government with children will be screened and vetted. This will affect around 280000 workers. People with serious convictions will permanently be restricted from working closely with children. The Social Services Committee recommend adding 80 more offences to the list of restrictive convictions meaning that a person who has committed any of these offences cannot work alone with children or have responsibility for them and I think that is a fantastic move that we actually ended up with in this bill.The committee also recommended changes to protect employees’ rights without compromising the safety of children by providing a 5-day suspension period to address concerns between the employer and the employee before any termination can be actioned. Other committee recommendations include some minor changes to ensure clarity of the intent of the policy. When abusive parents go on to have further children they will also have to prove that they are fit parents or their children will be removed. At the moment the onus is on the State to prove that the new baby is in danger. This leaves an innocent life at risk and we do not want to do that. We want to protect them from harm and this move—putting the onus on parents to prove that they are in fact safe to have the children with them—is a good move. This is so that abusive parents who have had their children removed cannot disrupt the children’s new safe and stable home with Home for Life carers.We introduced Home for Life in 2010—a home where a child can find stability and permanency and where they can feel secure enough to learn and to grow. The bill will allow an appointed guardian such as the chief executive of the Ministry of Social Development or an approved service to enrol a child in KiwiSaver and to manage the account without needing to obtain the consent of their guardians. This National-led Government is committed to improving the lives of vulnerable children. We have set targets in early childhood education where we have increased spending by 74 percent in 2008. In the year ending June 2013 95.7 percent of children starting school had previously participated in early childhood education. That is a great record.We have a target to increase infant immunisation rates so that 95 percent of 8-month-olds are fully immunised by December this year. By 2017 we aim to halt the rise in children experiencing physical abuse and reduce the current numbers by 5 percent. Considering that we have had such a terrible record with abusing our children that is an ambitious target. We are supporting vulnerable children by tackling poverty issues our approach being to fix issues with vulnerable kids before it is too late. We are expanding theKickStart Breakfast programme. More than 1.5 million breakfasts have been served since the Government expanded the programme last year. We are boosting support forKidsCan to ensure that kids in need have access to raincoats shoes and our basic health care programmes.There is always more as other members have said that the Government can do and the rest of New Zealand can do. This Government is fully committed to lifting the quality of all New Zealanders’ lives and this bill deals to the very heart of our shame—the shameful record the shameful history of our abuse of the most vulnerable. This is a great bill. I commend it to the House.