Bakshi Kanwaljit Singh: Child and Family Protection Bill — First Reading 
Bakshi Kanwaljit Singh: Child and Family Protection Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:660;Page:8839] 
KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI (National) 
: 
 I stand to support the Child and Family Protection Bill. Since this National-led Government under the leadership of John Key was established it has passed many laws to make our society safer. The purpose of this bill is to focus on providing greater protection for child victims and from family violence in the home ensuring that the courts can act to protect children and families from all kinds of violence and abuse and addressing the risk of children being wrongfully removed from New Zealand. 
This Government is committed to looking after the welfare of children. The amendments proposed by this bill will include the safety of children in New Zealand. As most of us are probably aware police are called about 80000 times to domestic violence incidents every year. Over 200 women and children were killed from domestic violence over the last 12 years. That is a clear indication that New Zealand is facing an epidemic of domestic violence. 
During the past year I have visited many organisations including the Counselling Services Centre in Manukau City the Manukau Indian Association the Swaminarayan temple and the Punjabi Cultural Association and discussed this issue with them. There has been an increase in the number of cases of domestic violence in ethnic communities in recent years. This bill is aimed at reducing domestic violence in our society. The Child and Family Protection Bill is the continuation of this Government’s ongoing commitment to dealing effectively with family violence. 
This Government has not stopped working on addressing the issues of domestic violence. Within a year of coming to power the National-led Government passed the Domestic Violence Amendment Act 2009 which gives the police the power to issue on-the-spot protection orders and to take action when they have good grounds to believe that those orders are not being complied with. Another important Act was the Sentencing (Offences Against Children) Amendment Act 2008 which sent a clear message that offences against children are not acceptable. 
This bill proposes three main changes. First it extends protection under the Domestic Violence Act 1995—which includes the Family Court process—by clarifying that a data protection order will continue to apply for a child of the deceased applicant who is under the age of 17. This will provide clarity so that when a protected person dies his or her children will remain protected. The changes proposed and added power will ensure that the courts can act to protect children and families from all forms of violence and abuse. Currently only a judge can direct attendance at the programme. This process can become problematic if the respondent has not been served with a copy of the protection order containing the direction prior to the date specified for his or her first attendance at the programme. The bill therefore enables the registrar to amend the direction to require attendance at the later time. 
The second proposed change is in relation to psychological abuse. The bill amends the Care of Children Act 2004. The aim is to increase the protection of children suffering from psychological violence by allowing the court to review the parents’ contact agreement within a week of a temporary protection order being made thus avoiding any opportunity for a gap between a temporary and final protection order which could result in the protected person having no protection. 
The third proposed change relates to adoption under the Adoption Act 1955. This change will strengthen the protection of children who are at risk of unlawful removal from New Zealand in order to ensure that New Zealand legislation fully complies with the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children child prostitution and child pornography so that it may be ratified. The bill includes a new offence under the Adoption Act 1955 of improperly inducing consent of the child to be punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to 7 years. The previous Government failed to progress domestic violence legislation despite in September 2000 signing the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children child prostitution and child pornography as part of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The previous Labour Government failed to implement the legislation necessary to ratify it. Now 10 years later the National Government is meeting those international obligations. 
In conclusion the ultimate aim of this legislation along with the Domestic Violence (Enhancing Safety) Bill 2008 is to ensure victims are placed at the heart of the justice system. The Government with this bill is working hard to reduce violence in our communities and is ensuring a focus on the best interests of children. We are a step closer.