Mahuta NanaiaHon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato): I stand to speak to the second reading and just register that Labour is unable to support this bill. It takes a village to raise a child and when we think about that we think about the ecosystem within which a child is raised. While I acknowledge the speech—it appeared heartfelt—by the Minister for Children in terms of the approach to revamp Child Youth and Family you cannot look at legislative change in isolation from all the other aspects that impact on the vulnerabilities that many of the children who we are here today to speak about are currently facing. I so want to support a bill that will put children and their whānau at the centre of better legislation and that also improves policy decisions for long-term outcomes and strengthens the capacity of our community and voluntary sector to be funded well which is where actually many of our families are seeking support and help at an early stage. It has to go hand in hand in order to work well. But I want to come back to the recommendations of the Social Services Committee. Really if you are just entering this debate you will already know that the bill as introduced was poorly consulted on and there was a lot of noise concern angst heartfelt emotion about the way in which there was a lack of consultation amongst community groups in social service sectors which are critically impacted by the way in which this legislation would have an impact.New section 4 inserted by clause 6 outlines the legislation's purposes. If I were to summarise some of those main aspects it seems that part of the purpose ensures that there will be a change in purchasing services by Child Youth and Family in terms of investing in opportunities for young people. That is untested. There is a social investment approach but it is still at its very early stages and it is unclear what that will mean for the community and voluntary sector which is contributing to supporting young people and what those contracting arrangements will look like. Intervention supports for young people—while we do have a youth justice system that is critically geared towards stopping young people going into the adult justice system at a community level there is significant underfunding of community-based services at an intervention level for young people to then be leading a positive alternative pathway rather than a path of offending.There is also a support there for strengthening whānau. Many of us will know in our communities we have supports around this area that are geared towards supporting whānau—whānau that are presenting with vulnerabilities. But they will tell you time and time again that their service can only be bolstered by the way in which other core aspects and access to stable circumstances can be achieved such as housing. Many of the families that we are talking about are actually critically affected by the way in which other Government ministries are applying policy for housing. Instability actually leads to vulnerability in housing and often some of the kids we are talking about are picked up simply because they are living in cars and not in homes.There is another aspect to this which is the external environment. Really it is on more of an aspirational level but I want to comment on it because when we look at new section 4(1)(d) inserted by clause 6 and the provisions following—they are all the way in which it appears the Government wants to look towards partnering with other organisations and iwi which is often held to be the opportunity here. Iwi have innovated a response in this space out of necessity because they see the long-term need to ensure that more young people are not being picked up by the State and critically impacted on. The Government really has not had ability to impact on that environment except to look at that innovation and then gain from it. I simply make these comments because if the Government is seeking to ensure that it has a methodology around long-term impacts for our children the legislation as well as the way in which the Government is making investments around building the community and voluntary social sector as well as supporting whānau—they all have to go hand in hand.I want to comment on the definition of mana tamaiti". While I did not sit on the substantial parts of this bill during the committee's considerations the conversation around "mana tamaiti" and the broadening of its definition was I think in fact useful. The way in which the committee wanted to ensure that the intrinsic whakapapa whanaungatanga connections of the tamaiti the tamariki were being considered broadened what was a very limited definition in the bill.I want to comment on a couple of other things. The Minister spoke around transitioning to independence on which there is some commentary in the bill and some changes. We are really wanting to acknowledge that it is important to address this area and the way in which young people who have had traumatic placements may perhaps take longer to move into independence. The bill provides for that kind of reality. There is opportunity we believe to further support the way in which these people as they move into independence can be supported through counselling and therapeutic support. That is a really important point and it is something that in my brief stint when I was Minister for Youth—there were young people whom we consulted with who had been in long-term care. The systemic impact on and damage that it had caused them and then to get further lifetime opportunities—this was a key area for them so we want to make sure that it is really an important element.We support the requirement of the State to ensure that there are State-funded legal representatives for young people. However the critical time for that to occur is in the first 24 hours for young people and it makes all the difference. We only need to read about situations where young people have been uplifted and put into police cells to see how damaging that can be. So that critical point of providing legal support is absolutely crucial.In terms of advocacy we believe that advocacy makes again a critical difference to improving decisions made for young people but when we look at the sustainable funding of organisations like VOYCE we are left wondering whether there is a high ambition to put children at the centre if again we are not funding at the other end.There is so much to speak about on this bill and while there was some attention paid to the name change of the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act which is a good thing the actual practice is something far different. Oranga Tamariki is about the well-being of children and if you are looking at the well-being of children you are looking at children from a strength-based belief in which culture identity and language critically matter. However Treasury modelling of supports in Oranga Tamariki is based on a series of vulnerabilities so it will have four or five vulnerabilities that are identified to be able to target communities and areas that it will invest funding into. If you want long-term outcomes for children that is not the way to be making investment decisions about where best to ensure that you are supporting the infrastructure and the ecosystem—the village—around the communities that these children come from.I would hazard a guess that if the Government really wanted to reform this particular sector it should look at the opportunities to strengthen the environment of children and the communities they are growing up in and get Government agencies to talk together in ways in which we can create greater stability. Housing would be a start. Housing would be a start because if our kids are living in a secure home and a warm home that is just one of many but a critical difference that could be invested in to improve the outcomes for many of the children who are impacted on by this legislation.We would like to try to support the legislation but it is difficult to because legislation does not occur in a vacuum. It has to be supported by really important investment decisions in other areas. So with those few comments we register our continued concern about this bill."