Naylor JonoJONO NAYLOR (National): I would like to pick up where the previous speaker Poto Williams left off in acknowledging the people who have brought this to the House—in particular obviously Jo Hayes who is the sponsor of the bill but Jackie Blue before her in initially putting it together. Can I also acknowledge the work of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians in championing this. I think it is great to see cross-party support of this type of legislation and if I could be so bold I guess I would like to speak on behalf of the men in Parliament and say that we absolutely support this as well.I guess one of the things—when it comes to being a parliamentarian when it comes to this type of legislation is when I feel most proud to be a parliamentarian. It is when we can actually get together as parliamentarians across parties and ask what things are going on in our nation that are just plain not OK and what we can do to stop those things from occurring. At the moment in New Zealand there is evidence to suggest that there are young people particularly young women aged 16 and 17 who are being through whatever process pushed into a marriage that they are not comfortable with that they are not happy with and as a result of that they are facing all sorts of atrocities which the sponsor of the bill Joanne Hayes and Poto Williams have alluded to as well already in this debate. As the lawmakers in this land it is beholden on us to actually put an end to those practices and so as a part of that this bill goes some way in doing that in ensuring that actually not just parental consent is required for a 16- or a 17-year-old to get married but that in fact a court must determine that this is OK to occur.I guess that in days gone by we always would have assumed—I presume when the Marriage Act was first put into place—that parents giving their consent would be adequate because they would have the best interests of their children at heart. Evidence shows us that on occasion that is not the case. So now it is obviously beholden on the State as I said to get involved through the court process to ensure that the rights of these young people and particularly these young women are protected. So it will require a judgment from a judge in a court to ensure that protection is offered. This legislation in and of itself will not necessarily ensure that it will not happen but it will put a step in place to stop parents who might be perpetrators of this—so that they actually think twice before they put their child up for one of these types of marriages because they are going to face the scrutiny of the court. If that can stop even one from occurring then this process will have been worth it.I think it is also good to look at this legislation in the context of other legislation that is currently before the House namely the Family and Whānau Violence Legislation Bill which is currently before the Justice and Electoral Committee. This legislation brings into place a new offence of coercion to marry and that will make it an offence for anyone to coerce any person regardless of their age into a marriage relationship. It is good to see that occurring.It is one of the great privileges we have in the Justice and Electoral Committee to have this type of legislation coming through—where we can work as I said before across the Parliament to ensure that we can put laws in place that will protect the vulnerable people within our society. I look forward at the Justice and Electoral Committee to hearing further evidence around this bill. I am sure I probably will not enjoy hearing some of the stories that are likely to come through but I think it will be important for us to get a greater understanding of the ramifications of what is going on now so that we can ensure that the rights and the mana of the young people in this country are protected.Again I commend those who have been behind bringing this legislation to the House. I look forward to us examining it more closely within the select committee context and I look forward to this—along with the Family and Whānau Violence Legislation Bill—passing to ensure that young people in our country no longer have to fear the type of abuse that can occur when these things go on. I commend this bill to the House.