Parata Hekia: Children Young Persons and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Parata Hekia: Children Young Persons and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:660;Page:9326] 
HEKIA PARATA (National) 
:  
Tena koe e te Mana Whakawa. Tena korua te Minita Take Maori me te Minita whakahaere i tenei pire otira huri noa i to tatou Whare i tenei po tena koutou katoa. E tu ana au ki te tautoko i tenei pire engari me te mihi tuatahi ki te ture matua na te mea pakeke ake i te rua tekau tau tenei ture e mahi ana a kei te haere tonu te ia o tera ture matua i roto i tenei pire na reira e tautoko ana. 
[ 
Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. Greetings to you two the Minister of Maori Affairs and the Minister responsible for this bill; and indeed to you all throughout our House this evening. Greetings to you all. I rise to support this bill but must first acknowledge the original Act which has been in place for 20 years. Its ethos continues in this bill so I endorse it emphatically 
.]  
This bill is focused on three main things. It expands the jurisdiction of the Youth Court so that 12 and 13-year-olds who commit the most serious crimes can be incorporated in the jurisdiction of the court. It strengthens and expands the orders that the Youth Court is able to make including parenting education mentoring and drug and alcohol programmes. It also creates tougher and more effective sentences to get these young offenders back on track. 
In the past week alone we have seen a number of examples of the kind of offending that this bill is directed at. In Titahi Bay this week a massive fire devastated 75 hectares of Whitireia Park and the offender who is responsible for that arson and who has been arrested is a 14-year-old. Yesterday’s headlines showed that a 15-year-old boy appeared in the Gisborne District Court. He was accused of bashing a young mother on the head with a crowbar as she was out running with her toddler. The young mother was unknown to the boy. The Minister has already referred to the off-duty policeman in Tuakau who was set upon when trying to break up a fight and we have also seen news stories of the tragic outcome for Liberty Templeman. These are just a few examples of a very small group of young offenders who are nevertheless committing very very serious offences. There is no end to the high-profile cases involving youth offenders but there needs to be an appropriate response and that is why I commend Minister Bennett for her work in bringing this bill to the House as well as the others who have worked alongside this kaupapa. 
We need to deal with young offenders in this age group and front-foot the issue. The previous Government seemed happy to wait until they were older and had committed more serious offences and then tried to put them through the adult system and rehabilitation programmes. Andrew Becroft said that there were not enough tools available for the Youth Court and recommended changes which can be seen in this bill. Members opposite have asked whether anybody thinks that a youth offence happens in isolation. No and certainly no member on this side of the Chamber thinks that. But this bill is focused on the fact that it does happen and it happens amongst a very small number of youth offenders. Yes there are other contributing factors such as a dysfunctional home life low or benefit-dependent income poor health poor education poor housing and identity and self-esteem issues. That is why this Government as recently as 2 weeks ago in the form of the Prime Minister’s statement talked about the wide and comprehensive agenda that this Government is committed to. This bill focuses on a specific part of that. 
The Prime Minister’s statement talked about the Government’s priority of growing the economy and the need for national standards addressing low educational attainment. We recognise that young people have the opportunity of getting a good education and using national standards they have an early warning system that identifies that they are failing in the education system and this can be addressed. We understand that a good education will help to divert young people from an otherwise difficult pathway and into having better educational options. 
We understand that growing the economy will lead to better employment prospects and more investment in business and will expand and increase the standard of living. We understand that Treaty settlements will contribute to the restoration of an economic base and the ability for iwi to practise tino rangatiratanga rather than the tino kawanatanga recipe that the previous Labour administration constantly fed into the Maori communities while it was in Government. 
Nobody thinks that a youth offence happens in isolation. Members opposite kept saying somewhat emotively and thereby misleading the public listening to this that these offenders are only children. Of course we are not talking about all 12 and 13-year-olds. Perhaps that has escaped everybody’s attention including members opposite. We are talking about the very small group of 12 and 13-year-olds who have invaded homes and grievously assaulted other people. Let me assure members that the victims of those crimes do not think they will not be upset because it was only a 12-year-old or it was only a 13-year-old who committed the crime. 
When we talk about rights we also have to talk about reciprocal responsibilities. When we quote United Nations conventions we need to quote a wide range of them. Let me give members an example. Article 40.1 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that children who offend should be dealt with in a way that “reinforces the child’s respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of others …” as well. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: Yes children that is right. 
HEKIA PARATA 
: Yes we are talking about children but we are talking about that very small group of children who are seriously offending. No it does not apply to all children. Yes this bill expands the jurisdiction of the Youth Court but no it does not create child criminals. It allows the court to deal with those who commit crimes. Yes it provides an expanded range of tools but no it does not assume that the judges will suddenly go mad and apply that jurisdiction indiscriminately. In fact I can tell members of this House that a very constructive project is going on right at this moment in the Porirua District Court working with and talking with the very diverse communities that make up Porirua about how the court can better serve the interests of the community. 
The Youth Court jurisdiction is being expanded in order to give a wider range of tools to judges so that they can deal with the issues that confront them. They will not be used willy-nilly; they will be used only on the youth offenders who break the law. We are not talking about all 12 and 13-year-olds and members opposite would do the country a favour if they stopped scaremongering and focused on that fact. The Youth Court said that youth offending has remained at the same level for the past 5 or so years after a steep increase before then. A recent newsletter from the court claims that it is reasonably certain that the age at which young people begin to commit violent offences is getting younger and that the violence committed by young people is becoming more serious. It continues arguing that the real solutions will be found in coordinated inter-agency properly funded early intervention programmes. That is what this Government is doing. We agree and we have committed to funding tens of millions of dollars to reduce youth offending because unlike members opposite when we commit to a policy we put real dollars into it. We do not talk about it; we get on and do it. 
The Minister has outlined a range of those coordinated integrated agencies that are working with each other to ensure that we can assist these young people to get back on a path of leading a quality life not only for themselves but for the whanau hapu and iwi which members opposite find easy to trip off their lips but do not understand how hard it actually is to work within those whanau hapu and iwi who every day try to ensure that their young people make good choices in life. I commend this bill to the House. I thank the Minister for the work she has done on this bill and the officials who have worked alongside her to make this possible. No reira tena koutou kia ora tatou katoa.