Naylor Jono; Borrows ChesterJONO NAYLOR (National): I would like to start my contribution by quoting a piece of work on this topic done by a guy by the name of George Benson who said I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside. Give them a sense of pride …" etc. In all seriousness this piece of legislation is about children. It is fundamentally about them. Before I go any further I want to just ensure that the wonderful workforce that we have working on the frontlines of Child Youth and Family across New Zealand who are doing the best they can day in day out trying to do the best they can with the tools that they have got are recognised. Because when we change legislation it is very easy to poke the borax at individual people and the work that they are doing but we have got some good people out there who are working hard and I just want to acknowledge the work that they are doing. I also want to acknowledge Minister Anne Tolley who since taking on this portfolio has worked tirelessly looking at the outcomes that we are achieving through our care and protection legislation and recognising as has been outlined by a number of the speakers already that the statistics and the outcomes for our young people in care by and large are simply not acceptable. We are not helping them to achieve what they should be achieving and so we need to take a long hard look. Because of the 14-odd reviews that have been done since the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act was first passed in 1989 another review was not going to cut it. So the Minister has taken the bull by the horns and has actually gone to some great lengths to put in place something that will be lasting and hopefully something that will actually be enduring and ensure that we get good outcomes. Can I acknowledge two other groups of people as well: the expert panel that has put together I think a really comprehensive report outlining some of the issues that we have in our current care and protection arrangements but also outlining some ways forward that we might be able to do better; also the panel of young people who helped contribute to what has been going on. I think it has been incredibly brave of them to tell their own stories. Again as other speakers have said this evening sitting on the Social Services Committee and hearing from some of those young people from the Dingwall Trust was incredibly moving and I think just strengthened our resolve to make sure that we do better for young people who are at risk in New Zealand and those who require the care of the State. The original 1989 Act did have a clause in it that talked about the paramountcy of the child's needs but it appears that somewhere along the line the importance of that has been somewhat lost. We were heralded throughout the world to be honest on our Act in 1989. The introduction of youth justice family group conferences had the global social work field really talking about this innovative new way that New Zealanders were working with children and families at risk. But we will need to make sure that we do not sit on our laurels and actually we have discovered now that that system is not necessarily delivering all that it could. So this legislation goes further than simply having a paramountcy principle within the Act but actually ensures that young people will have a voice not just in their own outcomes but in the actual guiding principles legislation and policies that will oversee their lives and the types of interventions that will take place. We have also talked about the importance of shifting the age upwards. Again I just want to reiterate the importance of us lifting this age. To be a 17-year-old and suddenly be faced with having to renegotiate your own board arrangements or otherwise simply is not good enough. This is a step in the right direction. I think that over time we will be able to explore how those transitions actually occur as well when children reach the age of 18 if they have been in care as to how they transition into adult life. It is what most of us as parents would do for our own children and I think it is beholden on the State to make sure that we do at least as good a job as regular parents would like to do for their own children. I am encouraged by the support that this bill is receiving from right around the House. I think we are going to have a really robust time in the select committee looking over the finer points of it. I hope that we will get some good support as we seek to bring this through but that we will actually get some good comment from submitters. There are a lot of people out there who have had interactions with Child Youth and Family over the years who perhaps have not had an ideal experience and who will be able to offer us some further insights into how we can improve. As I said at the beginning of this contribution children are our future. Children do need our support and we need to continue to do everything that we can as the legislators of this country as those people who provide the rules and the regulations about how we intervene when things are not going well for children to do the very best that we can. I see this bill as a very positive step forward for those children and for our country. Thank you.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Marama Davidson—5-minute call."