Lee Melissa; Mallard TrevorMELISSA LEE (National): On that note I just want to follow on from the speaker who has just taken her seat Jenny Salesa. We are in fact not talking about arranged marriages. Speaking as someone who almost got married in an arranged marriage quite a few years ago we are not suggesting that arranged marriages are wrong. There are many different cultures that have those kinds of marriages.What we are talking about is actually child marriage. In New Zealand child marriage is illegal. If you are under the age of 16 you cannot get married. We are talking about the age between 16 and 18. It is legally possible to marry when you are 18 but there are some instances in New Zealand where children—well they are children because they are 16 and 17; my son is 18 and I still think of him as a child. To imagine that a child who is younger than my child could possibly be forced into marriage—and it does actually happen—is wrong.I commend all of the speakers who have spoken on this bill the Marriage (Court Consent to Marriage of Minors) Amendment Bill. I commend the work of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP). I remember having discussions in the CWP meeting about this particular bill. I congratulate Jo on having this bill drawn from the ballot.In New Zealand for those children between the ages of 16 and 18 who cannot get married legally they are still able to get married if they have parental consent. That is perfectly fine. But we just want to put an extra barrier in place just in case there is abuse in the system whether it is cultural or religious or whatever where the child themselves does not want to get married and they are being coerced forced—whether it is with physical threat emotional threat financial threat sexual threat whatever it is—into a marriage that they do not actually want to consent to. We want to make sure that these children are doubly protected.We would like to think that all parents want to protect their children but sometimes even the parents cannot help themselves. They are in a situation whether they are in debt to the other family perhaps in a cultural context or maybe they are indebted for generations—I do not know. We are not suggesting that those cultural practices are wrong. It is just that we need to protect our children who do not have the voice that they should have in this country. Those children who are under the age of 18 who do not want to get married should not be able to get married—even if their parents want to force them to get married.We need to be able to protect these children so that there is a boundary there is a barrier against someone trying to force them to actually do something that they do not will or wish to actually happen. I think it is wonderful to see everyone in this House agreeing on this bill. It is probably the first time in a very long time that we actually agree on a particular bill. I congratulate the member and I commend the bill to the House. But let us remember—Hon Simon Bridges: Most of us agreed on the Family Incomes Package.MELISSA LEE: Sorry?Hon Simon Bridges: No don't worry.MELISSA LEE: I did not hear you. A little while ago I was just talking to my colleague next to me Paul Foster-Bell about the fact that many decades ago in 1950 when the Korean War happened navy seamen—boys—were so young they lied about their age and often they went to war and they fought a war when they were so young. And there are children who actually want to get married. If they do want to get married and they want to get the consent of their parents they should also convince the court as well that they should get married. It is just a protection mechanism that we want to put in place to make sure that those who do not want to do it cannot do so and cannot be forced to do so. Thank you. I commend the bill to the House.David Clendon: Mr Assistant Speaker.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Sorry—David Clendon. I am sorry David. I just could not remember your surname. Clendon David.