Upston LouiseHon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō): I am sure that every member in this House when the news broke this morning of five children in the care of the State being taken advantage of and sexually abused—your heart drops to the floor. But having been in the House and listened to the Minister responsible I feel as if my heart has been ripped out squashed and torn apart because not once did that Minister take responsibility. Not once. And not once did he apologise or show any inclination of the care and protection and the duty he has to every single child in a youth justice facility or in State care. Not once—not once. Instead he turns around and makes the lowest form of defensive attack. And that's exactly what we saw. Instead what we should have is humanity for those five children and I am deeply concerned that there are others to come.And I want to say why I'm even more concerned about it—because the first thing the Minister said was he knew about it on 8 June. What's the date today? It's the 21st. How many sleeps have children in care been at risk because the Minister waited until the spin was lined up before being willing to be held accountable for his job which is to protect—to protect—the children in State care? Now I want to acknowledge my colleague Karen Chhour for her address to this House because she more than anyone in this Chamber knows exactly what she is talking about and for every child that has been in or is in State care Oranga Tamariki has one job—one job—and that is to keep them safe from harm.Let's just for a moment have a think about those children. The Minister wants to crow about numbers. He wants to crow about the fact that there are fewer children in State care than there were when Labour came in. Actually I don't care about the numbers. I care about those children being safe. So is it that they are safer because they have been taken into State care or is it that they are being safe while they are in State care? Both of those things matter—the numbers don't. The primary purpose has to be for Oranga Tamariki children's safety and their safety from harm. So it's about care and protection. It is crazy—the words care and protection" is what the care and protection units are. I know there will be many New Zealanders who like many on the side feel absolutely crushed right now to know that we have a Minister for Children who doesn't see his top priority as the safety of children. And I want to reflect back on the work that Paula Bennett did. I went to multiple public meetings with the green paper with the white paper. Some of my colleagues who were in Parliament at that time remembered how harrowing—how harrowing—those discussions were. That's what led to the creation of the Ministry for Vulnerable Children. So these five children are the most vulnerable. And a child in State care any child in a youth justice facility has a level of vulnerability that most of us cannot even imagine. And we know that there is a Minister who is responsible who spent most of his 15 minutes—well a big chunk of it; the last five—attacking this side of the House—bizarre—and the majority of the rest of it talking about process and systems. No Minister we want to know and New Zealand wants to know that you have a heart that you have a commitment and that you take responsibility for the children who are in State care. But unfortunately some of this could have been predicted. When every party in Parliament other than Labour vehemently opposed changes to the oversight of Oranga Tamariki unfortunately the writing was on the wall. But you do hope. You do hope that what you are most afraid of isn't realised. But that's what's happened. That's what happened on 8 June when the Minister was first alerted. But no we wait until the 21st because then they've got their ducks lined up and they've got someone investigating and it makes it look as if they've got it under control. Well guess what! They haven't got it under control. I have not heard that we have a Minister who is taking the care and protection of those children seriously and I think that should be deeply deeply alarming to New Zealanders. I want to reflect back on the oversight of Oranga Tamariki legislation. One of the organisations that was set up in Paula Bennett's time and then transferred to Anne Tolley was VOYCE - Whakarongo Mai to make sure that those children and young people who were care-experienced had a voice and that we made sure that they were at the heart of any changes to the system. Well guess what! When the oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system legislation was before Parliament they were ignored. And so unfortunately what we have now seen is more harm to a group of children who are already incredibly vulnerable and who have experienced more in their short lifetimes than most of us will ever experience in our entire lifetimes. We have a duty of care of the highest level to those children and so it is frustrating to be in the House today and to have heard completely and utterly empty words from the Minister. Not once did I get a glimpse of his heart and his care and I want to just actually point out that the values of Oranga Tamariki are "We put tamariki first." I didn't hear that today. I didn't hear that in 15 minutes. Not once. So where are the priorities? The Minister for Children should focus on care and protection and the first job—the first job—of the Minister for Children is to do no harm to the children in his care. I'll say that again. They are in his care. And whether there's 1000 or 5000 is irrelevant. Every single child counts and is owed a duty of care from the Minister to the chief executive to every single staff member. And when there is an issue the expectation of those young people of their families of our communities of our country is it will be dealt with urgency not however many days later. And for those who have heard some of stories from the royal commission into the abuse in State care they are harrowing. They are absolutely harrowing and it is unacceptable to the public of New Zealand that harm continues to exist. So here we go again. Here we go again. We are focused on the children but instead what happens? The Government uses it as an opportunity to attack. Not once did the Minister say sorry. Not once. The priority should be on each and every one of those children in State care and whether they are in the care and protection units or whether they are in a youth justice facility is irrelevant. They deserve the highest level of care and protection. And under this Government yet again it is an area Labour has failed to deliver to our most vulnerable. It is appalling and a disgrace."