Davidson MaramaMARAMA DAVIDSON (Green): This is the third reading of the Children Young Persons and Their Families (Oranga Tamariki) Legislation Bill and the Vulnerable Children Amendment Bill. We are opposing this legislation and my colleague Jan Logie has been outstanding in outlining our Green Party positions on many of the aspects of the legislation that concern us.My particular focus from the very start has been on this misnomer that the well-being of children can be separate from the well-being of families—any children actually. But the fact that over 60 percent of the tamariki in Child Youth and Family's care are Māori makes this incredibly important. As many of our colleagues have spoken about today we were out on the steps of Parliament face to face hūpē to hūpē tangi to tangi with a lot of the people who have come through this system abused and harmed and it has not just stopped with them. Their wairua has been affected their children have been affected and their grandchildren have been affected. And this was at the hands of the State.This issue of wanting to ensure that all of our tamariki are taken care of is right in front of us—right in front of us today and every day. It would have been nice to see any member of the Government come out and be face to face hūpē to hūpē with the men and the women who told their stories of being abused at the hands of the State when they were children. I want to endorse what my colleague—I think it was Carmel Sepuloni—was referring to. They were once those children and their words as adults are as important to us today as they should have been back then.The priority to ensure the whānau first" placement for tamariki Māori has been removed from this bill and it has not been put back. It has not been put back despite what the Minister says when she tries to talk about that priority for "whānau first" placement being put back in there. It has not. The sort of language that it has been replaced with is weak watery words like "should" and "where practicable". That is not strong enough and because that is not strong enough it continues to uphold a damaging narrative—the very narrative that harmed those people out on the steps of Parliament today—that said that (1) the State knows better where you should be placed as a Māori child and (2) we will not provide the support for your whānau to feel strong or even the foster families who took you on. The support was not provided.So the fact that the Minister stands up and espouses a "children first" priority is actually incredibly hard to take sitting here in the House. Children as a first priority and she could not even come to meet those very children. She has refused to apologise to those very children. This is relevant because she then sits here and says that this legislation is about tamariki first and that that requires removing them from whānau Māori when what we want is to make sure that everybody understands that most whānau Māori are safe and we can always find one. We just have to support the process better. We have to support the process for all whāngai processes and foster parent processes to be stronger. There is always safe whānau Māori and if we have not found them that is on us.The intrinsic value of whakapapa to tamariki Māori is essential to their well-being. So that has from the very start been my main contribution to my role as Māori development spokesperson as to the Green Party opposition of this legislation. It saddens me that we continue to pass this legislation while knowing full well that our families need more support. We will continue to oppose this legislation and we will continue to work hard to provide the real support that families actually need. Thank you."