Katene Rahui: Sentencing (Offences Against Children) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Katene Rahui: Sentencing (Offences Against Children) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:702] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 On television last night a young mum was asked about her son. Her instantaneous joy at thinking about her child was obvious as her face lit up and she said: “From the day he was born you couldn’t take the smile off of all of our faces. He made us glow every day.” This Christmas that glow has been replaced by the dull gnawing pain of a family trying to learn to live without their boy—a boy who was described as his dad’s hands and legs in reference to the support he provided to his father who is a tetraplegic. At the beginning of this year that young boy was stabbed to death by a 50-year-old businessman who took the law into his own hands and now a jury of his peers has handed down a sentence not of murder but of manslaughter. 
I take the time to refer to that case because it is entirely relevant to what we are trying to do today in this Sentencing (Offences Against Children) Amendment Bill: to send the signal that violence against children is not OK at any time or in any place. The crime that cost that boy his life was that he was allegedly about to tag a fence. Tagging of course was the hot topic for the last Parliament and I recall when listening to proceedings from the outside being amazed at the extravagant language and dramatic rhetoric that accompanied the debate in the House. Politicians from all parties except the Maori Party the Greens and ACT voted venomously to outlaw graffiti creating the perception that the violence of vandalism was the issue of fundamental and paramount importance on our horizons as a nation. 
Without relitigating that debate I want to place it on the record that I am absolutely opposed to tagging and that I accept that it is appropriate to consider any instances of tagging within the context of property law. But I would question the way in which politicians have demonised taggers and the exaggerated hyperbole that has embellished the debate. I cannot reconcile the dramatic overreaction to tagging with the seeming understatement about the loss of the life of another child. Have we become so desensitised to the horror of murder that the extreme vigilante action of that case is tolerated because after all a fence was allegedly about to be tagged? Is it acceptable for a citizen to chase a boy with a knife and to kill him with that same knife? Was the crime of tagging property deserving of a death sentence for that teenager? Is it acceptable that the crime of the adult was excused as arising from frustration and an intention not to kill yet a youngster was killed? That was apparently so for a Christchurch city councillor who infamously said of the accused: “If I was on the jury I’d let him get away with it.” 
Any violent crime is intolerable but that is particularly the case when it is directed against children. This week the Unicef survey of how well 25 OECD countries treated their young people placed New Zealand at 19th out of 25 countries on the measure of infant mortality. The horrendous incidents of violence against children which we read about every day have shamed us internationally to the extent that we as a nation are found to have neglected the responsibility we must take up to set in place basic minimum standards for the care and protection of children. Strong high-level leadership and coordination must be shown if we are to achieve the protection of children from violence. 
I congratulate the  
New Zealand Herald  
on its action this week in running a series of articles on child abuse and promoting the agencies and strategies that are available to keep our children safe. We need the conversation that condemns violence and neglect against children to be a priority at every level of society. The  
New Zealand Herald  
is running the “Our Lost Children” series and one of the articles featured Soala Wilson who in 1999 was awarded the title “Pacific Island businessperson of the year”. The Grey Lynn businesswoman has taken the brave step of speaking out about the horrific physical abuse she has experienced after having been beaten as a child with the belt the chair or whatever else was around. She made this proud declaration to the  
New Zealand Herald: 
 “I will never stop talking about it until society—families churches stop telling me to keep a lid on abuse. I won’t—I will not stop until society and families start speaking up and stop living in fear.” 
This bill is another approach for Parliament to start speaking up and stop living in fear. It builds on the excellent work established by Sue Bradford in repealing section 59 of the Crimes Act which ensured that assaults on children in the name of “discipline” were outlawed. It builds on the strong foundation of an incredible network of agencies and advocates who do so much in caring for our children: groups like Te Kahui Mana Ririki Te Korowai Aroha Unicef Plunket Save the Children Barnardos CCS Disability Action Tipu Ora the Maori Women’s Welfare League and many more. It builds on the precedent established by our whanau hapu and iwi our nannies and koros and our aunties and uncles—those who strive to place loving arms around all of our children to keep them from harm. It builds on the work of the dedicated social workers teachers childcare workers nurses police officers hauora providers and kohanga reo kaiawhina who every day watch over our children. It builds on the leadership of all New Zealanders who are prepared to stand up for children and to become superheroes who insist that our children must be treasured. 
The Maori Party is passionate about the campaign to eliminate violence from our lives. We salute all of those cause champions who have challenged society to speak up for our children. We celebrate the tribal leaders who are encouraging an environment upon our marae in which those who have perpetrated violence are forbidden from the privilege of speaking on the paepae. We want to see every school every institution and every residence practise strategies that prevent violence and promote safety. 
The briefing to the incoming Minister from the Children’s Commissioner recommended that “long-term investment in the restoration and rejuvenation of Maori whanau hapu iwi and communities is required for the overall future wellbeing of many Maori children and young people.” It is advice that we wholeheartedly endorse. We cannot focus just on the sentencing of an offender without at the same time investing in healthy outcomes for those who have been offended against. We want to see all families wear the glow of their children and to make all parents beam with the smile of pride and love for their sons and daughters. We must make the effort to publicly express the value of children and child rearing to promote respect for our children and to aspire towards a violence-free culture. 
As we approach the Christmas season perhaps that is the one gift that we in Parliament can encourage every family to invest in: the gift of unconditional love for the precious hope of our future. Kia ora.