Seymour DavidHon DAVID SEYMOUR (Minister for Regulation): Well thank you Mr Speaker. I rise on behalf of ACT in support of this Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill. I've stayed to listen to this whole debate to see what different members have said. I heard Karen Chhour the Minister responsible say that this Government's ambition is care for vulnerable children that sets them up to succeed for life regardless of race or culture. She said that there are alternatives where the Government takes children out of a safe environment and puts them in a dangerous environment because the safe environment has parents of the wrong race.She gave an example of one such set of parents where they were going to lose the child that they had committed to care for for life. They were going to lose that child because they weren't Māori and then because they found a distant Māori ancestor they were allowed to keep the child. That is how absurd and how racist our society has become—the way that Oranga Tamariki has been behaving—and I'm proud to stand on this side of the House where we are saying that each child should be alike in dignity and have the same basic rights and duties as they grow up in this country regardless of their race.You might wonder how people could start thinking about that. Well actually then we heard from Willow-Jean Prime and if there was ever a failure of logic it was this: Willow-Jean Prime repeatedly said that there was no evidence that section 7AA made any difference because section 4 actually says that the rights of the child always come first anyway. Now if she's right then she wouldn't care about section 7AA because it doesn't make any difference. But then came the lady from the Green Party who's been here for five minutes—I don't know who she is; I don't much care because she'll probably be gone in a scandal next week anyway. But this Green Party person said Look actually the wellbeing of the child is the same as their cultural needs." So if we believe this lady then all of a sudden actually 7AA is going to affect whether a child is taken out of a home or not.Camilla Belich: Point of order Mr Speaker. I understand it is the practice of this House to refer to members by their full name.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): That's fine—carry on.Hon DAVID SEYMOUR: Thank you Mr Speaker. I'm sorry to the people at home for that gratuitous and out-of-order interruption.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): No no Mr Seymour no—now you will withdraw and apologise. Do not comment on the Chair's findings so you will now apologise.Hon DAVID SEYMOUR: I withdraw and apologise Mr Speaker.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): And now continue.Hon DAVID SEYMOUR: Thank you Mr Speaker. The facts are that these two speakers contradicted each other. One of them says that section 7AA makes no difference which raised the question of why she cares if we get rid of it. The other one said that actually your race and culture are the same as your wellbeing. Unfortunately that is the problem at the core of the debate that children have been taken out of houses where they are physically safe where they're nurtured where they're loved and put back into dangerous environments as a result of race. That is absolutely reprehensible in any free society that respects the rights of each person to live in equal dignity.Over here on this side of the House we believe that there should be a place for everyone and we believe that people are made up of many different strands. People have different hopes and different dreams. Yes nearly every New Zealander has a blend of racial background and that brings me to the real question of this debate of why people are just so angry—why we heard the speaker from the Māori Party saying that the consequence is cultural extermination killing the wairua of Māori babies and making them Pākehā. That is really what betrays the motivation of people on this other side of the House who oppose this bill. They are race fanaticists. They believe that a person's race is more than all the other attributes that make up a person.Well I'm so proud to be standing next to Karen Chhour one of the most courageous women and people in this Parliament who is standing up for that simple timeless and essential idea that it doesn't matter who you are or where you come from or what your race is you will be treated the same under the law of this country by the authorities of this country. There'll be a place for you in this country no matter what your background may be and maybe one day these folks will understand it too. Thank you Mr Speaker. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): The member's time has expired."