Ngaro Alfred: Urgent Debates — Office of the Children’s Commissioner—State of Care 2015ReportText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeNgaro Alfred: Urgent Debates — Office of the Children’s Commissioner—State of Care 2015Report[Sitting date: 27 August 2015. Volume:708;Page:6267. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ALFRED NGARO (National): I rise to take a call in this urgent debate in regard to the State of Care 2015 report by the Children’s Commissioner and one of the things I would like to declare is my conflict of interest in the sense that I have previously been part of many of those reviews. So when they have talked about 14 reviews I have actually been part of some of those 14 reviews all the way back to Pūao-te-ata-tū. We also know about the baseline review. There were many—the Mick Brown report—that talked about the sector.So I want to just say that out of that whole speech Mr Ball the one point that I absolutely agree with you on is that this has been happening for a very long time. Let us not take away from that fact. This is not a new issue. The issue of abuse and neglect of our children whether in custody or in care has been an issue for some time. It has perplexed and challenged many Governments and many institutions so I do not think it is the right thing to turn round and to actually blame just this Government for what it has been doing. I think the challenge is however the responsibility of whoever is in Government to be actually held to account for what it is that they are doing. That is absolutely right and that is the right thing for us to be able to do. So this report the Children’s Commissioner’s report does that.But in particular I want to say that the focus of this report is around children young persons and their families. The reason I make that point is that we have just had some comments from the previous speaker Darroch Ball about the green paper the White Paper for Vulnerable Children and all of the initiatives that have come out of that. Those forms of consultation and engagement with the whole of the sector were for the whole sector. Those initiatives if the member wants to look through them were about not just engaging; they were statutory roles and responsibilities—that is children young persons and their families. It is about those who are community providers it is about those in local government and it is about those who are actually in the community delivering services. It is the whole of the community and the whole of the sector so those still stand as initiatives so that all of the issues of concern are raised by the whole sector.So I do not think it is appropriate to actually bring those initiatives up to hold us to account. They hold us to account at the moment. The green paper the White Paper—the actions that have come out of those are the Vulnerable Children Act and also the children’s teams. We know that those initiatives are currently in play as we speak at this moment. So those are put to the side. What I will address then is the issue in this report which is to hold to account the statutory roles and responsibilities that are part of the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act.The first thing that I want to state as has been stated by the Minister is that we welcome this report. We do not shy away from it we do not turn round and hide from it; in fact it is this sort of report that is important because it will hold us to account as to the direction and the vision of both the Minister and of the Government and our intent to address this very key issue.One of the points that was put up by Jan Logie was about the sense of urgency about this. In fact she attacked the Government saying there was not enough urgency about this and in particular about some of those recommendations. It is quite clear that when we talk about the current report—people keep using it as a review. We know that there have been 14 different reviews. At the moment there is not a review that has been commissioned and initiated by the Minister or by the Government; it is called an overhaul. Here is the difference: a review is when you will go out and you survey you will research you will talk about things and you will come back and you will look at some recommendations. An overhaul—and coming from a trade OK it is like when you want to overhaul a car right? You do not just turn around and sit and talk about it and analyse it; you get on with the business of taking it apart and putting it back together so that it actually works as it has been intended to. That is what an overhaul is about.What this Government is doing and what this Minister is doing is commissioning an overhaul. It started by the way in 2014—last year. The conversation began then. Then it was sent to Cabinet to get approval and was initiated at the beginning of this year prior to this report. So I can actually absolutely say with confidence that this Minister and this Government have commissioned that initiative—not of a review; not another one to add to the 14 and make it 15. It is called an overhaul. It is a practical application to look at how we need to fix what has been put wrong. We know that is what is happening there so we think that is absolutely important as well.The other point that I want to talk about is the seven recommendations. There are seven recommendations here. Again I want to reiterate that actually these recommendations have already been taken up and have already been addressed by the expert independent panel. This expert independent panel has already been looking at these. So what the report does is it actually validates the initiative the conversation and also the recommendations that are already coming out of the independent panel work that is happening at the moment.In the report when one looks at the opening remarks there is a whakataukī that has been quoted by the Children’s Commissioner Dr Russell Wills. He simply states this: “This whakatauki urges us to let the uniqueness of the child guide our work.” In other words it is the voice of the children the concerns of the children and the thoughts of the children so that they would be included. Again I want to state that the Minister has already had an independent youth panel of children and young people from the ages of 15 to 23 who are already out there looking at the way that we engage in the panel and in the organisation of the Child Youth and Family Service—that is already happening. So what we want to say is that we welcome this report because it confirms the direction and the initiation of things that are happening.Here is one of the things that came out of those conversations with those young people: what do they desire most? They most desire being someone in a place of belonging where they have a connection and a sense of safety and well-being. That is what they desire most. The whakataukī here from Dr Russell Wills is leading and guiding the direction of the work that is already happening—again it is not a review but an overhaul of the system—so it truly does meet the concerns that have been raised. We think that is really important.I also just want to engage in regard to the investment in this. There were some comments that were made by Mr Ball in regard to the fact that we are not putting in enough money. Can I say this: having been part of the system previously—as I have declared my conflict of interest—having been a practitioner in an NGO service that provided the very services whether they were parenting or family services and having worked in areas of abuse and with the vulnerable in our community I say that the issues are not just about more resources. Actually it is not just about more money. The resource issue is important but what is just as important is the ability of those who are practitioners at the front line and the ability to allow the system to be flexible enough to deal with the complexities of the issues that are there. Those are just as important.Just to prove to that member Darroch Ball and others out there who may say that this Government and this Minister is not taking this matter urgently—and again this was in the 2015 Budget—prior to this report $90 million of extra funds were put in; $90 million.Darroch Ball: Why wasn’t it in the 2009 Budget then?ALFRED NGARO: Mr Ball you may want to hear this. In fact I could even actually give you the Budget. You may not have read the Budget Mr Ball but I guarantee to the public who are out there listening to this debate that they can have confidence that there has been an extra $90 million that was put into the baseline funding to ensure that those services are also adequately resourced for what they need to have.So let us summarise that. First of all we have got an overhaul of the system happening. We think that is important. Secondly we know that seven of the recommendations—in fact there are only seven; but all seven of those recommendations—have already been taken up by the independent review panel. Thirdly we know that the voice of the children is factored into this whole process. Why? Because there is a youth panel. It is not just talk; there is actually a youth panel of 15 to 23-year-olds who have been factored into this report. And finally we also have an extra resource of $90 million. Prior to this report that resource had already been invested to ensure that our children and our young people are cared for.We do take this seriously in answer to what Mr Ball said. We do take this seriously and we know that this is not just words; this is about actions. I want to remind the House of this: this is not a day to turn round and to blame the Government; this is about taking action out of concern for the issues that are here. I commend the actions of the Minister and I commend the vision of this Government to ensure that we address and deal with the most vulnerable.