Kanongata'a-Suisuiki AnahilaANAHILA KANONGATA'A-SUISUIKI (Labour): Kia ora Te Mana Whakawā. Al salam alaikum. It is an absolute privilege to speak on the Oranga Tamariki Legislation Bill. It would be remiss of me not to respond to the statement from the previous speaker Simon O'Connor talking about rushing this through—we've heard from previous speakers that actually this had been before the previous Government for two years. I want to respond to what the honourable member Alfred Ngaro has spoken about: that they were listening to children—they were listening to children. I want to talk about the fact that this is changing the definition of young person" to include 17-year-olds and that in his speech he said that they listened to children. I've worked for Oranga Tamariki through these changes—when they were going through Child Youth and Family and then the Ministry for Vulnerable Children and then we came in and changed it to Oranga Tamariki because it is about children. The voices of young people were saying "Treat us equally in both courts". Currently if these changes don't go through you can be picked up for an alleged offence and charged in the Youth Court as an adult—and not in the District Court—as a 17-year-old but if you're in need of care and protection you are treated as a young person and you go through the Family Court. If this is not changed come 1 July we're actually talking about 23 percent of the population who according to the Office of the Children's Commissioner are people under 18. That's over a million in 18 years' time; we're talking about those million children and young people turning 18. So currently according to the Office of the Children's Commissioner 182940 young people are between the age of 15 and 17. So we're actually talking about those young people and if they happen to be arrested on 1 July at 17 we want them to have fair and equal treatment by any court in this country. So this omnibus bill is actually saying there are 12 Acts that will effect this change. There are 12 Acts. Let's not wait any longer. Children who will turn seven and who will become a young person at 14 actually cannot wait any longer. In the history of the Oranga Tamariki changing names and in terms of the ministry we started from a white paper then went to a green paper then went to the bill and then we discussed it and we've gone on and now it's becoming the Act. It has taken a long time. My point is that it has taken a long time to get to this space and actually young people are saying "Treat us the same whichever court we're in. Whether we're in the Family Court whether our care and protection is needed or whether we are being held in the youth justice system accountable for our offending". Young people have been saying for years "Treat us as one person not two different people". So in terms of speaking from the voices of experience if we're looking at making lasting change for young people then we really need to provide the full clout of the law in terms of supporting that change. The youth justice system is about accountability and it also is about making lasting change. I heard—I won't go there because I don't have the facts. But I want to strongly urge the members in this House: this cannot wait. This cannot wait any longer. We need to treat our young people the same in the Family Court and the same in the Youth Court.Members of this House have spoken about examples of what could happen with young people and what could happen in a journey through the court. But as someone who has worked as a Youth Court clerk as a youth justice social worker as a youth justice manager and as—and it was an honour—the project manager for the first Pasifika Youth Court I want to commend the Minister. This cannot wait any longer. We need to look at our young people with the same caring lens in terms of supporting their care and protection and also on the same side holding them accountable and using the same lens as a young person not an adult. I commend this bill to the House."