Bradford Sue: General Debates 
Bradford Sue: General Debates 
[Volume:619;Page:15254] 
SUE BRADFORD (Green) 
: 
 This morning the Human Rights Commission released a report on the state of human rights in New Zealand today. I hope the Government will not dismiss it lightly. What that report shows is that while we are doing pretty well in some areas like improvements to the monitoring of human rights we are still not achieving what we should be in a number of other critical areas like how we treat our children and a whole lot of other people who tend to be marginalised and treated with a culture of contempt by the structures of our society. Some of the key issues highlighted by this report include the large number of our children and young people who still experience poverty neglect and abuse; the widespread barriers that prevent many people living with impairments from full participation in society; the vulnerability of all of those who are in any form of detention or institutional care; the endemic social and economic inequities that face Maori and Pacific Island people particularly; and the ongoing significance of the challenge of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and what it could and should mean in terms of truly responsible governance. 
While a lot of the material used in the report is already well known such as the fact that nearly a third of our country’s children are still living in poverty and the fact that our children have the fifth-highest rate of death by maltreatment in the OECD the commission’s achievement has been to bring key information together within a human rights framework having consulted with some 5000 people whose views should certainly not be ignored. The commission and those it consulted also contribute a whole range of suggestions about where we need to do better and while I realise that the Government is developing an action plan to be released later this year I hope it does not feel it has to wait until then before starting to take concrete action on at least some of the issues raised. 
I turn to just a couple of those issues which is all I have time to do today. The report highlights the fact that New Zealand still does not acknowledge in our legislation any universal right to adequate housing as does for example the UK. There is no systematic monitoring of housing law for things like security of tenure affordability or accessibility. Children are suffering as a result of a lack of access to stable and secure housing and Maori Pacific Island people and disabled people continue to be disadvantaged. Those findings are backed up by the real-life experiences of ordinary people all over this country. I have been visiting a number of community groups working on housing issues over the last few weeks and the reality of what is going on in some of our urban and rural communities is nothing short of a disgrace. After 5 years of a Labour Government and the very welcome reintroduction of income-related rents for State housing we still find ourselves with waiting lists that are completely outstripping any willingness by the State to cope; with Housing New Zealand Corporation staff who apparently actively discourage people from going on to the waiting lists; and with a large number of people who continue to live in substandard and/or overcrowded housing—or not in houses at all. 
The Green Party believes that the Government should make manifest in legislation a universal right to adequate housing. The Government—and local government for that matter—should accept a role in providing housing for those most in need. That includes people who literally do not have a roof over their heads today. The Government should be a lot more open to looking at new options for providing social housing through support for genuine third-sector finance and building initiatives which could help begin to break down our current almost total dependence on the private and State sectors for the provision of social housing. 
On the issue of the abuse and neglect of children I note that the report makes no bones about calling for the repeal of section 59 of the Crimes Act. Again this is something our current Government could do with no fiscal impact and with no mucking about if it had the will to do so as it can certainly be assured of the Green Party’s backing in implementing such legislation immediately. We do not have to wait for more action plans or elections to repeal section 59 of the Crimes Act or to do more for people in severe housing need. Labour could and should use this report as a blueprint for action right now. I commend the Human Rights Commission and all the people and groups that have worked with it in putting together this report and I truly hope it will have a real and positive impact on some of our most negative statistics before too many months go by.