Shanks Katrina: Children Young Persons and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Shanks Katrina: Children Young Persons and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:652;Page:1452] 
KATRINA SHANKS (National) 
: 
 It is my pleasure to speak on the Children Young Persons and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill tonight. Firstly I acknowledge a young lady in the gallery Emma Daken who walked the length of New Zealand to raise awareness of cystic fibrosis. She is an inspiration for many young New Zealanders. She believed in a cause and actually got out there and did something about it so I would like to acknowledge her tonight. 
This bill fulfils one of our 100-day commitments which was to get tough on crime and provide young offenders with a fresh start in New Zealand. This is a Government that will keep its word and deliver on its pre-election policy promises. This is a Government that New Zealanders can rely on to keep its word and deliver for all New Zealanders. This is a Government that passionately believes in every single child that backs every child in New Zealand and that will not let a child slip through the cracks. We will not give up on a child. We will try and try again to make sure that every child in New Zealand has hope because every child is precious to us. Every child can grow up to be a good productive citizen of New Zealand who adds to the value of what we have here which is a wonderful wonderful country. 
The Labour Government had no inspiration no answers it could not think outside of the square and it let more than a thousand children slip through the cracks. But what is even sadder is that a thousand children slipped through the cracks and 54 percent of them were Maori children. That is not good enough; it is not good enough for Maori in New Zealand and it is not good enough for all of the thousand children who slipped through. But this Government has some inspiration this Government is thinking outside the square and this Government will deliver for those thousand children. 
The Opposition says this bill is the ambulance sitting at the bottom of the cliff. Yes it is the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff because that is where the children are and we cannot let them stay there. We have to pick them up and we have to give them some hope. That actually is what this legislation is all about. It is about recognising that these children need a lot of attention to be given to them. They need a lot of wraparound services. They need to be accountable for some of their actions. We cannot just let them go. 
Part of this bill extends the jurisdiction of the Youth Court to include 12 and 13-year-olds which many previous speakers have spoken on a lot. But the part I want to speak on is the tool kit; the tool kit that we will give the Youth Court to actually add some value to allow it to put in place more programmes for these children—programmes such as parenting orders mentoring and drug and alcohol rehabilitation. It is not actually rocket science. What one sees coming from the National Government is not rocket science; it is common sense prevailing. The Youth Court will be able to order parents to take part in education programmes. That is not rocket science is it? Imagine being able to tell parents they have to take part in education programmes! That is a great thing. The thing is we can put children in programmes but when they are released to their families they go back to exactly the same environment. It is about having a holistic approach. It is about ensuring that the children get looked after and the families get looked after as well and get some skills with which they can move forward. 
In concluding I would like to say that I am proud to stand here to support legislation that will help our young children to move forward.