Bridges Simon: Child and Family Protection Bill — Second Reading 
Bridges Simon: Child and Family Protection Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:666;Page:13871] 
SIMON BRIDGES (National—Tauranga) 
: 
 That was a powerful speech indeed from the Labour member Su’a William Sio and I agree with much—almost all—of what he said. We do have a national problem and we should be ambitious about it. He graphically but necessarily gave us some powerful examples of the kind of abuse children in this country face see and have perpetrated against them. 
When I was a prosecutor I prosecuted a large number of sexual cases like the ones that the member opposite talked about. I remember cases of daughters being raped from pre-pubescence to their late teens and those rapes were enforced by regular beatings from the start. It was tempting to think then—and I do not have the facts and the figures before me now—that we had an epidemic of abuse in this country. That is a national shame. 
As I said I accept that we should be ambitious about this problem but I will also pose another challenge. I hope this does not sound like a cop-out because it is not meant to be; Parliament should face up to the problem fair and square and do what it can about it. But it should be put on record how deeply complex abuse is and how deeply it runs in parts of our society. Just as law change may be required and we are doing some of that today there is also very much a need for deep cultural and societal changes. 
Let me give members an example from when I prosecuted these kinds of cases that I thought of as I was sitting here—and I am talking about serious cases. One I recall resulted in a 17-year imprisonment for rape charges which is right up there with the longest sentences for rape in the country. There were two or three in that category because the rapes had occurred over a period of years. Newspapers and other media in this country were not interested in covering those cases. They were too real they were too graphic and they were too nasty. Maybe they said something about our society and what is happening in this country that we do not want to know. 
I accept much of what my Labour colleague said about how this is an area of shame for our country but I say as well that while law reform is called for there is a wider societal issue that people other than politicians can show leadership on whether they are from the media or from organisations that already show a leadership role in relation to this area such as the organisations involved in the Every Child Counts campaign. 
I will not say that the Child and Family Protection Bill will solve all the problems that we have in this area but it is a quality bill that amends a number of Acts: the Domestic Violence Act the Care of Children Act and the Adoption Act. It does that as I think it says in the purpose clause to provide for the welfare of children. Those changes will make some difference. As we talk about the welfare of children and families I will give a thought to the trauma that children and families are facing after the Christchurch earthquake. The biggest eye-opener to me about that earthquake has been the toll on children and families the trauma that has come from lack of sleep because of the aftershocks and the fear that children face. We heard from Amy Adams about that yesterday and about how it leads to parents being tired emotional and traumatised themselves. It was in the newspapers earlier this week that the pressures from this earthquake—and I in no way excuse it—have led to much higher levels of domestic violence in Christchurch. That is in no way excusable but it perhaps gives us some understanding of the pressures in families that lead to understandable—but not right—outbreaks of violence. 
In response to Su’a William Sio’s speech I have departed from some of the things I wanted to say in this speech. I will finish with this related topic: the changes to the Adoption Act. I spoke about them in the first reading of this bill. I have felt for some time that child trafficking is a problem on the rise in the world we live in. It is a very serious and growing problem and we are—again—not doing everything that could be done about that in this bill. But we are making some changes that bring our laws in this country into greater rationalisation with other countries and that is a good thing. 
I suppose this may seem like a strange or random thought but I thought about the Prime Minister’s comments some time ago about boat people and the inevitability of boat people reaching these shores. There is a global trend towards boat refugees and the like and it is inevitable that at some point they will come to our country. We could say the same thing about the child trafficking that we see around the world. In poor countries in Africa and in other continents parents are being tricked and children are being tricked into child slavery sexual slavery and all sorts of hideous forms of bondage. We could see that happening in this country and we should not be complacent about it. 
On another tangent I note George Hawkins’ Manukau City Council (Regulation of Prostitution in Specified Places) Bill. Although his bill has lots of practical issues to be sorted through during the select committee process—and I have not decided how I will vote finally—it relates to this issue in a funny sort of way. We cannot be complacent in terms of child trafficking and other such issues in this country. 
The Child and Family Protection Bill does not solve everything but at least it puts forward some steps and makes some good changes that I hope will enhance child welfare in this nation.