Ngaro Alfred: Family Court Proceedings Reform Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeNgaro Alfred: Family Court Proceedings Reform Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 03 September 2013. Volume:693;Page:13216. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ALFRED NGARO (National): I rise to take a call on the Family Court Proceedings Reform Bill. We heard about the aspect of sense and common sense in that speech by Lianne Dalziel but I think that in some cases some of the member’s points that she made were nonsense in the sense that I was also part of that Justice and Electoral Committee along with her and also Mr Little over there and we heard what they had to say. The regulatory impact statement declares that the aim of this bill is “... to create a modern accessible family justice system that is responsive to children and vulnerable people.” That is the intent. Do we care about children? Absolutely—absolutely. It is nonsense to say that this Government does not care about children.There were 386 written submissions 217 of which we heard at the select committee. Here are just some of the comments because I want to give a balanced view around the perspectives that have been shared today. This is word for word from submissions that were shared at the select committee—a variety of different submissions.Here is one of the submitters and this is what they said: “This is not about the lawyers. I am particularly interested in the extent to which it is feasible to provide positive conflict resolution assistance to families and lawyers and clients. I support the intent of this bill because I have seen money wasted on legal fees and Family Court time that could be better spent on helping parents”—and here is the key point—“and children.” So you cannot argue with that because here is a submission from a submitter out of the 217 and this is what they are declaring to us.Andrew Little: Who was that?ALFRED NGARO: This was actually down in Christchurch and Mr Little was there as well. This is what we want to say. In the select committee we have heard we have listened and we have responded and here are some of the recommendations.I want to pick up on the point around counselling. We heard Relationships Aotearoa which provides counselling services. When we asked it what the number of sessions it gave was—and we know that it is currently contracted for four sessions—this is what it said. The number of contracted sessions that it provides on average is three sessions—three sessions. So in response to that we have also said that a recommendation from the select committee is to provide up to 3 hours’ preparatory counselling for eligible parents so that they can make the most of family dispute resolution. We are responding to what we hear are the concerns: three sessions 3 hours. That is what we are responding to.The other issue that I want to talk about is about empowering the judge to be able to refer parties back to family dispute resolution and also Parenting through Separation. I have sat through and I have also taken part in Parenting through Separation. I have seen the importance that that has had. We heard from some submitters who were in quite an emotional state and you have heard about that. It is an emotional state.Often when parents have got into that state it is not about what is right; it is actually about what they feel within themselves. All of a sudden—one of the submitters talked about this—everything just went red for them. They could not see the wood for the trees. All they saw was their sense of right. What they forgot about was their responsibility for their children—the responsibility for their children—hence the reasonwhy Parenting through Separation is absolutely important. It has been endorsed by those who have been through this course and who have seen the importance of the course. Parenting through Separation—what does that do? It actually allows the parents to see the children hear the voice of the children and recognise the importance of the children to be taken into account in this issue as well.Also one of the things that was indicated as part of a recommendation of change is to provide up to 4 hours of legal support before entry into the court for parents who meet the legal aid threshold. One of the other areas that we think is absolutely important is enabling lawyers to get involved early in the court process at the judge’s discretion. It would increase the chances of a successful resolution.What is really important to us is that family dispute resolution has been endorsed by the arbitrators and the mediators who came to make their submissions. This is what they said to us word for word: “Good arbitration good mediation has the ability to be able to exit families out of the court system as early as possible.” We know that the court system in itself is not only brutal but traumatic and is not a place we want our children to be part of. We do not want them to see their parents in the trauma of fighting against each other. We have heard that time and time again.What we have heard again from the mediators—well-trained mediators—is that the family dispute resolution is important to this process as well. So this bill establishes the family dispute resolution process to focus the family justice system towards supporting people to resolve their disputes where appropriate and most important out of the court system.The bill also requires a person to complete a parenting information programme as well and—