Utikere TangiTANGI UTIKERE (Labour—Palmerston North): Tēnā koe Madam Speaker. Thank you. I'm happy to rise and take a call on the Family Court (Supporting Children in Court) Legislation Bill at second reading. In doing so can I just acknowledge the Justice Committee. Like the member Harete Hipango who has just resumed her seat I am not a member of that committee but I acknowledge the work that they have done in allowing the bill to reach this point in its progress in the House. I also want to very briefly just acknowledge two ministerial colleagues the Hon Andrew Little who started this piece of work previously and the Hon Kris Faafoi who has picked the baton up and has taken it forward. I think it's really important to remind the House that the genesis of this piece of legislation comes from the review that was undertaken around the 2014 reforms in this area and that it was done by an independent panel. This fundamentally is about access to justice for children. And as the member who has spoken previously no doubt accepts these are often complex situations and complex predicaments. I guess what I'm delighted to read through the select committee's report in having the bill come back to the House is they identify four amendments that they believe will inform the bill and make it more workable. The first one is effectively around a stocktake to ensure that the date upon which this piece of legislation comes into force is delayed so that there is actually a piece of work that's undertaken to ensure that the further training opportunities that will be needed to ensure the participation of children appropriately through this process is actually up to spec. And I think it's appropriate to in that light delay the implementation of this to ensure that we're not putting the cart before the horse because that certainly wouldn't result in pleasurable outcomes in that sense.The second amendment is around the strengthening of the provisions that allow for a child to participate in procedures and this is not purely strictly related to the age and maturity of a child but rather that the child needs to be capable of forming their own views. We all know that circumstance and context are two different things and they will mean different things to different people. So again another example of a suggested change from the select committee that will make the bill more workable. The third is around the requirement for lawyers to I guess consider the safety considerations as being paramount throughout all of this engagement. So not a pure focus on reconciliation as a form of I guess mitigation but rather ensuring that while reconsideration might be part of that piece of work fundamentally the safety and particularly the safety of the child is paramount in that consideration. The fourth one is a technical one which ensures that there's some parallel alignment with the other piece of legislation the Family Dispute Resolution Act. There is one piece within the legislation that I think is a good move and that is around the requirement for lawyers who are engaged or appointed to work with and represent the child through these proceedings—to ensure that there is a connection whether it be through training through background around the lawyer's personality cultural background and the like. And as I've mentioned earlier these can be complex and very difficult issues that can arise throughout this process.But like the member in terms of experience what I would say is that I have presided over sittings of the District Court in the District Court and the Youth Court jurisdictions albeit through bail and remand hearings. And I have to say that I think it's really important that the fit the connection with the lawyer and client is extremely important because those who represent young people as youth advocates in the District Court and the Youth Court in particular have to fit a particular bill. Not all lawyers undertake Youth Court work and that shouldn't be any different for those that are engaged to work on behalf of children—that the lawyers who are engaged to work alongside children are a good fit whether that's around personality cultural background experience all of those sorts of things. So having a bill that would allow for that is really really important.I'm delighted that this is another piece of the suite of changes to make our justice system more accessible and more fair. On that basis I again thank the select committee for their work and I commend this bill to the House.