Moroney Sue: Children Young Persons and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Moroney Sue: Children Young Persons and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:660;Page:9295] 
SUE MORONEY (Labour) 
: 
 I thank the Minister for Social Development and Employment for her contribution but I am afraid it did not actually address the issues that my colleague Jacinda Ardern had asked about with regard to her concerns around this part of the Children Young Persons and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill. In particular the Minister failed to address the concerns about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which in my reading of Part 2 of this bill does cause New Zealand some grief in terms of its commitments in that regard. I have had the opportunity to contribute to this debate in the earlier parts of the Committee stage and in the main I was very focused on whether the boot camp model was the right pathway to go down for our young people who are in trouble with the justice system and in trouble in the course of their lives in particular thinking about the very good model Te Hurihanga which has been established in Hamilton and which this Government is closing down. That seems to be a much better way to go in order to deal with these issues. 
When it comes to Part 2 of this bill I am interested in gaining some understanding from the Minister about what the implications are for clause 42 which amends the Criminal Justice Act and amends it in a way that has children subject to our youth justice facilities. I am particularly keen to know what that means in terms of residential facilities when it comes to 12 and 13-year-olds. I have to say that I am interested from a personal perspective as well because when I read this bill as a member of Parliament I also cannot help but read this as a mother. I cannot separate the two sometimes and I think that is probably a good thing. That is why we have women in this Chamber because it is important that we wear all of those hats when we are reading legislation. I am the mother of a 12-year-old. I read this part of the bill and wonder about the rights of my 12-year-old with regard to having compulsory samples taken. I tell members it is not something that I relish the idea of as a parent. What are the— 
Hon Member 
: It’s taking a cheek swab. 
SUE MORONEY 
: Mr Borrows seems to think that he has the answer to the anxiety that parents might have about the rights of children at the ages of 12 and 13 years. I am interested that at least Part 2 does call these 12 and 13-year-olds “children” because they are and there are other parts of this bill that pretend otherwise. We are talking about children who are 12 and 13 years old. For example if my son were in this position—if he were accused of a crime—would I be with him? Would there be a requirement for the parents to be informed? Would the parents need to give consent for bodily samples to be taken from a 12-year-old? Those are things that I think New Zealand parents will be contemplating as they hear this debate because they are very important issues to consider. Certainly being the mother of a 12-year-old I do not believe that he would be in a position to make legal decisions about his rights in this regard. Those are the sorts of things that I would like to hear in a more succinct form from the Minister. 
The Minister stood up and read out perfectly well what we can all see in front of us. We can all see which sections of which acts will be amended but what we are really interested in is what this means with regard to our international obligations; we want to know what discussions have been had with other Ministers with regard to this and we want to know exactly what this means in terms of children and the way they are treated. 
I started by talking about residential facilities and that is where I want to end my contribution. For example the Te Hurihanga facility in Hamilton is an 8-bed facility. I want to know whether 12-year-olds would be in a residential facility staying overnight with 24-year-olds.