Power Simon: Sentencing (Offences Against Children) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Power Simon: Sentencing (Offences Against Children) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:698] 
Hon SIMON POWER (Minister of Justice) 
: 
 I move  
That the Sentencing (Offences Against Children) Amendment Bill be now read a third time 
. I thank all political parties in this House this afternoon for the way in which they have approached this legislation. I appreciate that this is often an environment where under urgency and with these long hours things can spark up a fraction but I do appreciate the way parties have approached the legislation. Issues raised by all members on all sides of the House have brought in quite a considerable quality of debate. I include the Labour Opposition members in that as well particularly David Parker who brought quite a technical discussion to the fore. I single out Metiria Turei for two things. Firstly her discussion around the issue of defencelessness was a genuine one and I am humbled by the fact that she withdrew her amendment in order to show that the whole House was supportive of this legislation. I give her an undertaking that if there are any difficulties with that particular clause and I am still the Minister of Justice it will be dealt with. 
The bill encourages tougher sentences for offences against children that involve violence or neglect. It denounces such conduct as does this Government and I am proud to say as does this entire Parliament. This is our first step in dealing with child abuse. Other criminal justice legislation and initiatives in other portfolios will further address the mistreatment of children and the dysfunction of families but this is a timely step as the Christmas break approaches and children are especially at risk in stressful environments of mistreatment. 
We cannot know the true extent of offending against children. Family violence is notoriously under-reported with recent research published in the reputed UK medical journal  
The Lancet 
 
indicating that as few as one in 10 cases are reported to social service agencies in countries such as Canada Australia and the UK. In New Zealand data on criminal convictions is not stored according to the age of the victim making it impossible to identify the scale of the problem at that basic level. But we do know that Child Youth and Family investigates more than 16000 cases of child abuse each year. Violence or neglect is a regular part of the lives of far too many of our children; one instance is one too many. We all have a responsibility to confront this issue and I encourage all New Zealanders to report instances of offending against children regardless of those persons’ relationship to the offender. 
The bill has moved through the House very quickly and I make no apologies for that. The policy was clearly announced and campaigned on; voters provided a mandate for it and so has this Parliament. It would be hard to find a rational person who did not agree that offending against children merits our denunciation. 
As I said this is just the first step. This new legislation will see the perpetrators of abuse appropriately punished and will go some way to protecting our children but we can and must do more. Many of us have followed the recent series of articles in the  
New Zealand Herald 
 on child abuse and the organisations that have been set up to work with victims and families. Because we are confronted daily with reports of appalling offending against children it is easy to slip into a mindset that sees such offending as being inevitable and unavoidable. As Parliamentarians we must all resist that conclusion and do everything we can to develop effective law in this area. As Minister of Justice my responsibility lies with the sentencing for offences against children but I can assure the public of New Zealand that my Cabinet colleagues with social policy portfolios are also looking at this issue from other angles. As a Government we are determined to safeguard the lives of our nation’s children who are of course the future of this country. But it is not solely the Government’s responsibility or Parliament’s responsibility to address child abuse. As a nation we all have a responsibility to confront this issue. From the social service agencies the  
New Zealand Herald  
is featuring to families and whanau and to neighbours and friends we all have a duty to protect and nurture the lives of our children. 
We are now just less than 2 weeks from Christmas traditionally known as the season of peace and goodwill. For too many children in the past years the opposite has been true. I hope this Christmas is different. I hope that our children can enjoy a summer and a holiday; it is their right and this bill reinforces that right. Next year members will be seeing more reform to the criminal justice system but we have started today with reform for children. I commend this bill to the House.