Ghahraman GolrizFAMILY COURT (FAMILY COURT ASSOCIATES) LEGISLATION BILLThird ReadingDebate resumed.GOLRIZ GHAHRAMAN (Green): Thank you Madam Speaker. It's a pleasure to rise to speak in support of the Family Court (Family Court Associates) Legislation Bill. I won't say the phrase that we've all been saying across the House repeatedly but delay is really bad for justice and it is a breach of justice. It is well known as being the plague of justice systems that marginalises those who to attempt access our fair and transparent systems which this should be. The Family Court deals with some of the most difficult issues of our justice system. It deals with abuse issues it deals with issues that sometimes spill over into the criminal jurisdiction which is where my experience of dealing with the Family Court came in in the criminal courts but it also deals with really important property rights custody and access rights to children and helps people to traverse a period of their lives that very emotionally burdens them. And so we have a duty of care to everyone who tries to access our system of justice at that point. I do want to say that the delay has become a source of abuse and trauma and I think others have said this and it is true. So as well as being a rights breach we are in fact causing further trauma and re-traumatising further those who are already in very distressed circumstances as they try to access our Family Court system. And it's for a lack of resource that that has been happening for years and years now. I do want to acknowledge as others have done that the Family Court system has been pointed out to us as a House of Representatives and in select committee on issues to do with this court. In particular it has been used as a source or tool of abuse in an ongoing situation where those who access the Family Court system are already involved in dynamics that have power imbalances that have abuse issues and that have economic imbalances that can be reflected in the way that this delay then manifests in further traumatisation of victims. It is our duty as a House of Representatives to ensure that legislation goes forward to manifest in a fair and just and transparent way. And as someone who has worked also in a child rights context in our system of justice I would say that in particular the breaches of rights that the delay in the Family Court processes has caused have impacted on children and young people. It has meant that their rights wellbeing and viewpoint haven't been centred in the process which is a legal obligation of us all—pursuant to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and to legislation that we've adopted that has said that we will in fact centre the rights wellbeing and views of children in all matters that impact them. This can't be done when delays go on and on for years on end. As we know a young person's life magnifies that delay in time. So to be without access to a parent or to be forced to have access with a parent that isn't fit to be the caretaker of that child can cause a magnified harm that we are here to protect young people against and that this system is there to protect young people against. I do want to say—because others have touched on issues with the Family Court—that yes it was gutted years ago and we all remember that. Those of us in the justice sector who took that Government and that Minister of Justice to court and won remember that? I want to remind my Labour Party colleagues that the Bar Association took the then Minister of Justice the Hon Judith Collins to court on judicial review and won having the finding from the Court of Appeal that the legal aid system she'd instituted was unlawful for prioritising cost cutting over what was the only legislative purpose that her delegation allowed which was to provide fair and high-quality legal services. That system is still in place and it hasn't in fact been addressed. The court's concerns still remain. So free access to mediation through the legal aid system to prevent cases from being forced into the Family Court—that still remains. A lack of access to legal aid for those who can't afford high-quality legal services in both the criminal and Family Court systems still remains. So if we did address those resourcing issues I think we would be in a better place to say that with this bill with the allocation of resource to the Family Court Associates we are truly addressing not only the delay but a fair transparent and accessible system of justice for all those who need to access the Family Court would be in place. So this is a good first step but there's a lot more to go and all of that requires resource. I do look forward to the Budget tomorrow where I hope that there is more resource for a system of justice that we can truly say does not delay or abuse justice but creates a fair accessible and equal system for New Zealanders. I commend the bill to the House.