Sharples Pita: Children Young Persons and Their Families  Amendment Bill (No 6) — First Reading 
Sharples Pita: Children Young Persons and Their Families  Amendment Bill (No 6) — First Reading 
[Volume:645;Page:14595] 
Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 Madam Assistant Speaker like the others I offer my congratulations to you. It is good to see you there. 
There have been a few events in the last few days that have given me great room for optimism. One was the celebration of Children’s Day on Sunday at which we recognise how special and precious children are and that perhaps the most important gift we can give our children is time. We would be into making every day a Children’s Day—a special day. The second event was Cindy Kiro’s challenge that politicians perhaps should look across boundaries when they support events for children or issues relating to children. Perhaps we do not need to be bound by party boundaries. 
I guess the final crowning event in this group of three was confirmation of the growing confidence that Maori voters have in the ability of a strong and independent Maori voice to represent them in Parliament. Why this is so important is that 22 percent of the Maori population is under the age of 19 and we are passionate in our belief that these children and young people deserve the very best representation. In fact when one considers the fact that in 2005 28 percent of newborn New Zealanders were Maori it very quickly becomes obvious that Maori are the face of the future. Despite the tired old “play it again” lines of 2005 that Shane Jones loves to bang on about Maori are showing in statistically significant numbers that they are seeking representation in this House to give voice to their aspirations for the future. A vote for the Maori Party is a vote for a Maori voice—a Maori Party that stands consistently in this House to put forward the views of an independent strong and proud Maori voice which members all know. 
Hon Mark Burton 
: That’s not what it sounded like. 
Dr PITA SHARPLES 
: No this is real representation of real Maori. 
I will not join the queue for an ever-present chorus of complaints about the faults and failings of our young. The adolescent health survey of 2003 surveyed over 10000 secondary school students and it found that over 85 percent of those surveyed are thriving and positively engaged with their families. In the Maori-specific component of that study whanau were shown to be a vital environment for taitamariki—for children—and a strong and positive influence on most of the 2300 participants. 
It is rare for parties in this House to be able to come to the topic of children’s policy and find studies that confirm a basis for hope rather than dwelling on deprivation dysfunction and deficit analysis. We must start focusing on the potential of our young people the hope that they represent our future. We have had more than enough of politicians posturing about the problems of youth—comparing children to snarling mutts—and the association that everything can be fixed by a good dose of boot camp philosophy. 
The Children Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989 compelled State child welfare agencies to consider issues of culture particularly in the context of their whanau hapu and iwi. In many respects it was legislation before its time in the way in which it recognised the centrality and importance of whanau to the care and protection of tamariki and to youth justice. We must preserve the intent of this legislation throughout all subsequent iterations including those on the Order Paper today. 
We are well pleased to see the initiative to raise the legal age of a young person to 17. Although in effect this makes our legislation consistent with international arrangements such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child our key interest is that it ensures that the benefits of the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act will now apply to an age group that too readily slips through the cracks. We are also glad to support the purposes of this amendment today to strengthen the effectiveness of family group conferences. The family group conference has been described as the linchpin of our youth justice system. It receives quite a bit of criticism in this House but in effect it reconciles the two concepts of justice and well-being by making the young offender accountable while also involving the victims and their families in the decision-making process. Although it is renowned internationally it has not been without its challenges. The commitment to retain children within their families takes enormous effort time resources and the belief that family-based solutions are worth all of this work. 
The changes introduced in this bill are to ensure that representatives of victims at family group conferences can be accompanied by support persons that courts and lawyers encourage the participation of children and young persons in family group conferences and that family group conferences are advised of the health and education needs of children and young persons. These are all excellent enhancements to the original model and we hope that there will be sufficient investment to achieve optimum success. 
Findings of the research undertaken by Dr Marie Connelly who reviewed 15 years of family group conferences in 2004 revealed that although the original Act supports a family-led process in practice professionally driven processes have been creeping into the system. As someone who has been involved in many family group conferences I am greatly concerned that the original intentions of the process towards facilitating healing and restorative justice have been treated in such a way. 
I have particular association with Te Whanau Awhina which was established over 30 years ago by Maori welfare community volunteers. It began as a community group providing a forum for dispute resolution at a local high school. In time the police were brought in and they started referring people to us then the courts and then Judge Michael Brown started referring a range of offences and offenders to this forum. It was through the influence of Te Whanau Awhina that the family group conference evolved encouraging the mediation of concerns between the victim the offender and their families as a means to achieve reconciliation restitution and rehabilitation. I am proud to say that the family group conference legislation proposed initially by Judge Michael Brown drew from the Te Whanau Awhina practices. One of the most important paragraphs in the bill is the commitment to “ensure family group conferences are timely well-informed and managed to achieve the best outcomes for children and young persons:”. 
So here we are considering a host of consequential amendments to the Act in order to strengthen the responsibilities and the procedures for the care and protection of children and young persons including the care and support for disabled children and young persons and the prompt and effective response to reports of child abuse. There are however—despite a range of positive provisions and amendments to support victims in the area of children young persons and their families—some concerns and we are eager to hear the views of the community on that at the select committee stage. 
In particular we will be eager to hear views on the concept that the Youth Court can transfer young people to the District Court for sentencing a year earlier at 14 years old and that young people no longer need to give their consent to community-based orders. There is an anomaly in the current law that has the potentially negative effect of exposing 14-year-olds to longer sentencing options should the offending be proved. Although it is proposed that the power to convict and transfer young people to the District Court for sentencing be extended to include 14-year-olds who have committed purely indictable offences we are still very keen to seek clarity about what this will mean and the implications it will have for young people. 
I return to the idea of our young people as the face of our future. We need to create the optimum environment that invests in every child no matter what circumstances he or she is born into. We need to invest in children in order to develop their full potential. Then we can truly say we are making a difference for the future of Aotearoa. Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker.